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  • Brown v. State

    Publication Date: 2016-05-02
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Melton, Harold D.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Lawrence J. Zimmerman, Atlanta, and Christopher R. Geel, Charleston, SC, for appellant.
    for defendant: D. Victor Reynolds, District Attorney, John R. Edwards, Assistant District Attorney, Marietta, Samuel S. Olens, Attorney General, Patricia B. A. Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, and Scott O. Teague, Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, for appellee.
    Case Number: S16A0179

    The trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting into evidence autopsy photographs of the murder victim, since the medical examiner testified that the photographs were necessary to show the

  • Clark v. Deal

    Publication Date: 2016-05-02
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Melton, Harold D.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Wayne B. Kendall, Fayetteville, for Clark et al.. Samuel S. Olens, Attorney General, Dennis R. Dunn, Deputy Attorney General, Russell D. Willard, Senior Assistant Attorney General, and Susan R. Haynes, Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, for Deal et al..
    for defendant:
    Case Number: S16A0559; S16X0560

    The Governor's appointment of three new judges to the Court of Appeals of Georgia was not unconstitut

  • Lewis v. State

    Publication Date: 2016-04-29
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Melton, Harold D.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Long D. Vo Georgia Public Defender Standards Council, Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Oliver J. Browning Jr., District Attorney, Cedartown, Samuel S. Olens, Attorney General, Patricia B. A. Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Scott O. Teague, Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, and Robert W. Smith Jr. Prosecuting Attorneys' Council of Georgia, Morrow, for appellee.
    Case Number: S16A0389

    There was nothing to indicate that the defendant's confession to police was not the product of rational intellect and free will, even if he was under the influence of drugs when he confessed, and th

  • Carter v. State

    Publication Date: 2016-04-07
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Melton, Harold D.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Charles H. Frier, Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Paul L. Howard Jr., District Attorney, Paige R. Whitaker, Deputy District Attorney, and David K. Getachew-Smith Sr., Chief Assistant District Attorney, Atlanta, for appellee.
    Case Number: S15G1047

    Under the facts of the case, the verdict finding the defendant guilty of voluntary man ter as a lesser included offense of the alleged felony murder of the victim and not guilty of voluntary ma

  • Owens v. State

    Publication Date: 2016-04-06
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Melton, Harold D.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Howard W. Anderson III, Pendleton, SC, for appellant.
    for defendant: David P. White, District Attorney, Hartwell, Samuel S. Olens, Attorney General, Patricia B. A. Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, and Matthew M. Youn, Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, for appellee.
    Case Number: S16A0058

    The trial court did not err in denying the murder defendant's mid-trial request to fire her attorney and proceed pro se after she had previously requested to represent herself and then changed her

  • Hudson v. State

    Publication Date: 2016-02-26
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Melton, Harold D.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Christopher Hudson, Waycross, proceeded pro se. Kenneth W. Mauldin, District Attorney, Brian V. Patterson, Chief Assistant District Attorney, Athens, Samuel S. Olens, Attorney General, Patricia B. A. Burton, Deputy Attorney General, and Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, for appellee.
    for defendant:
    Case Number: S16A0107

    The record belied the defendant's contentions that the trial court sentenced him on a malice murder conviction to life without parole in the absence of a finding of aggravating circumstances and tha

  • Robinson v. State

    Publication Date: 2016-02-12
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Melton, Harold D.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Steven L. Sparger, Savannah, for appellant.
    for defendant: Margaret E. Heap, District Attorney, Lyndsey H. Rudder, Assistant District Attorney, Savannah, Samuel S. Olens, Attorney General, Patricia B. A. Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, and Aimee F. Sobhani, Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, for appellee.
    Case Number: S15A1912

    The evidence was sufficient to prove that the defendant was a party to the crime of attempted ro and that his actions were a proximate cause of his accomplice's death during that attempted ro

  • Gates v. State

    Publication Date: 2016-01-22
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Melton, Harold D.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Saraliene S. Durrett, Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Robert D. James Jr., District Attorney, Deborah D. Wellborn, Assistant District Attorney, Decatur, Samuel S. Olens, Attorney General, Patricia B. A. Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, and Vicki S. Bass, Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, for appellee.
    Case Number: S15A1407

    The evidence, including two eyewitnesses' testimonies, supported the def 's convictions for malice murder and various other crimes in connection with the shooting death of a man who sent the de

  • Collymore v. State

    Publication Date: 2016-01-22
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Melton, Harold D.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Robert L. Mack Jr. Mack Harris PC, Forest Park, for appellant.
    for defendant: James L. Wright III, District Attorney, Blair D. Mahaffey, Assistant District Attorney, McDonough, Samuel S. Olens, Attorney General, Patricia B. A. Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, and Elizabeth M. Haase, Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, for appellee.
    Case Number: S15A1509

    The trial court did not err in allowing the jury to use a yardstick and a ruler during its deliberations, since the yardstick and the ruler did not have the effect of introducing new evidence, they

  • Churchill v. State

    Publication Date: 2016-01-21
    Practice Area:
    Industry:
    Court: Supreme Court
    Judge: Melton, Harold D.
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: James M. Walker III, Tifton, for appellant.
    for defendant: Clifford P. Bowden, District Attorney, Tifton, Samuel S. Olens, Attorney General, Patricia B. A. Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, and Aimee F. Sobhani, Assistant Attorney General, Atlanta, for appellee.
    Case Number: S15A1487

    The trial court did not err in admitting photographs that depicted the 3-month-old victim after autopsy incisions, because the photographs were necessary to show a material fact—that the defendant p