• Troutman v. The State

    Publication Date: 2025-01-03
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Presiding Justice Peterson
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: N/a
    for defendant: N/a

    Case Number: S24A1163

    Court affirms conviction in a stabbing case, dismissing challenges to sufficiency of evidence and prosecutorial conduct and claims of ineffective assistance of counsel

  • Steel v. The State

    Publication Date: 2024-11-22
    Practice Area: Legal Operations
    Industry: Legal Services
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Presiding Justice Peterson
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Robert Alexander "Alex" Susor, (The Law Offices of Alex Susor, P.C.), Decatur, Colette Resnik Steel, (The Steel Law Firm, P.C.), Atlanta, Lynsey M Barron, (Barron Law LLC), Atlanta, Leigh Ann Webster, (Strickland Webster, LLC), Atlanta, Ashleigh Bartkus Merchant, (The Merchant Law Firm, P.C.), Marietta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Christopher M. Carr, Patricia Beth Attaway Burton, Meghan Hobbs Hill, Clint Christopher Malcolm, (Department of Law), Atlanta, Kevin Christopher Armstrong, Fani T. Willis, (Fulton County District Attorney’s Office), Atlanta, for appellee; Ural D.L. Glanville, (Fulton County Superior Court), Atlanta, for other party; Hunter Joseph Rodgers, Smyrna, Mazie Lynn Guertin, (Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers), Decatur, Greg Allen Willis, Jessica Jones, (Willis Law Firm), Atlanta, Amanda Rourk Clark Palmer, (Garland, Samuel & Loeb P.C.), Atlanta, Edward Donald Tolley, (Cook & Tolley LLP), Athens, Donald Franklin Samuel, (Garland, Samuel & Loeb, P.C.), Atlanta, for Amicus Appellant.

    Case Number: S24A1245

    Court reverses contempt finding against attorney for failure to disclose source of information, citing due process violations and finding that the trial court judge should have recused himself

  • Garrison v. The State

    Publication Date: 2024-09-10
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Presiding Justice Peterson
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Samuel J. Sliger, (McDonald & Cody, LLC), Alto, Jessica Jones, Greg Allen Willis, (Willis Law Firm), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Daniel Scott Garrett, William Jeffrey Langley, (Enotah Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office), Blairsville, for appellee; Hunter Joseph Rodgers, Smyrna, Ashleigh Bartkus Merchant, (The Merchant Law Firm, P.C.), Marietta, for Amicus Appellant.

    Case Number: S24G0007

    Court rules there is no need to prove reliance on COVID-19 emergency order to extend statute of limitations, but reverses DUI conviction and remands for applicable of proper Daubert standard

  • Johnson v. The State

    Publication Date: 2024-09-06
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Presiding Justice Peterson
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Frances C. Kuo, Jonathan O. Oden, (Georgia Public Defender Council), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Clint Christopher Malcolm, Meghan Hobbs Hill, Christopher M. Carr, Eric Christopher Peters, (Department of Law), Atlanta, Deborah D. Wellborn, Lenny I. Krick, Sherry Boston, (Dekalb County District Attorney’s Office), Decatur, for appellee.

    Case Number: S24A0633

    Court affirms convictions in a stabbing death, and rejects defendant's claims of jury instruction error and admission of hearsay evidence as not being reversible plain error

  • Allen v. The State

    Publication Date: 2024-06-28
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Presiding Justice Peterson
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: N/a
    for defendant: N/a

    Case Number: S24A0171

    In a sharply divided opinion, court reverses malice murder conviction due to failure to instruct jury on voluntary manslaughter

  • Howard v. The State

    Publication Date: 2024-06-27
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Presiding Justice Peterson
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: John Walter Donnelly, (Western Judicial Circuit Public Defender), Athens, for appellant.
    for defendant: Deborah Gonzalez, (Western Circuit District Attorney’s Office), Athens, John Allen Regan, (Prosecuting Attorney’s Council of Georgia), Morrow, for appellee.

    Case Number: S23G1037

    Court rules that adjudication of guilt upon revocation of first-offender status is directly appealable, and reverses appellate court judgment that dismissed appeal for lack of jurisdiction

  • Cobb County v. Floam et al.

    Publication Date: 2024-06-07
    Practice Area: Government
    Industry: State and Local Government
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Presiding Justice Peterson
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Hugh William Rowling, Jr., Lauren Smith Bruce, Elizabeth Ahern Monyak, (Cobb County Attorney’s Office), Marietta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Ray Stallings Smith, III, (Smith & Liss, LLC), Atlanta, for appellee; Logan B. Winkles, Jonathan David Loegel, Christopher M. Carr, Stephen John Petrany, Justin Thomas Golart, Zachary Mullinax, (Department of Law), Atlanta, Daniel Walter White, (Haynie, Litchfield,Crane & White, P.C.), Marietta, William A. Pinto, Jr., (Elarbee, Thompson, Sapp & Wilson, LLP), Atlanta, for Neutral Amicus.

    Case Number: S24A0599

    Court reverses order granting declaratory relief to residents who challenged a county boundary redistricting, finding that they could not show a need for guidance for future conduct

  • Allen v. The State

    Publication Date: 2023-08-18
    Practice Area: Criminal Law | Evidence
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Presiding Justice Peterson
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Scott Richard King, (SK Law Group), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Elizabeth Haase Brock, Christopher M. Carr, (Department of Law), Atlanta, Elizabeth A. Baker, Constance Monique Harris, Marie Greene Broder, (Griffin Circuit District Attorney’s Office), Griffin, for appellee.

    Case Number: S23A0436

    Crime-Scene Video Did Not Support Defendant's Self-Defense Claim

  • Ward v. Medina

    Publication Date: 2023-06-06
    Practice Area: Criminal Appeals
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Presiding Justice Peterson
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, (Department of Law), Atlanta, Ronald Edwards Daniels, (Daniels Taylor Law LLC), Eastman, for appellant.
    for defendant: Steven Chei-Ming Chen, (Steven C. Chen PC), Lawrenceville, for appellee.

    Case Number: S23A0264

    Court affirms grant of habeus relief to defendant who involuntarily pled guilty to armed robbery on the basis of affirmative misrepresentations

  • Moody v. The State

    Publication Date: 2023-06-06
    Practice Area: Criminal Law
    Industry:
    Court: Georgia Supreme Court
    Judge: Presiding Justice Peterson
    Attorneys: For plaintiff: William A. Morrison, (The Morrison Firm), Atlanta, Mark Aaron Loudon-Brown, Michael Boland Admirand, (Southern Center for Human Rights), Atlanta, for appellant.
    for defendant: Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Paula Khristian Smith, Christopher M. Carr, (Department of Law), Atlanta, Fani T. Willis, Kevin Christopher Armstrong, Burke Olivia Doherty, Michael Scott Carlson, (Fulton County District Attorney’s Office), Atlanta, for appellee; Anna Marie Arceneaux, (Georgia Resource Center), Atlanta, for Other Party.

    Case Number: S23P0046

    Court affirms convictions for murder and other crimes and a sentence of death over defendant's multiple challenges and in view of statutory requirements for the death penalty