17 results for 'judge:"Ellington"'.
J. Ellington finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of murder and cruelty to children. The trial court did not commit any error by allowing the state to repeatedly introduce evidence of the victim's previous head injuries without instructing the jury that the parties had agreed that defendant did not cause those injuries. The trial court correctly instructed the jury on prior difficulties between defendant and the 23-month-old victim. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Ellington, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: S24A0139, Categories: Murder, Child Victims, Jury Instructions
J. Ellington finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of murder, cruelty to children and possession of a knife during the commission of a felony for the stabbing death of his sister. The trial court correctly admitted evidence that defendant had attacked another sister two months before the murder. The evidence was relevant to show that defendant had committed a similar intentional act and to counter defendant's claim that he stabbed the victim while in a "trance." The trial court correctly refused to charge the jury on voluntary manslaughter because the evidence did not support the instruction. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Ellington, Filed On: April 16, 2024, Case #: S24A0092, Categories: Murder, Child Victims
J. Ellington finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of murder, participation in street gang activity, aggravated assault and firearm offenses. An assistant district attorney's testimony that he was familiar with the investigation into another gang murder and a detective's testimony that the victim in that murder was a gang member who was shot in a drive-by were both admissible. Neither witness expressly repeated out-of-court statements by another person and the testimony was not clearly hearsay. The trial court correctly instructed the jury. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Ellington, Filed On: March 19, 2024, Case #: S24A0026, Categories: Murder, Gangs
[Consolidated.] J. Ellington finds that the trial court properly convicted defendants of murder and other offenses. The trial court correctly admitted evidence related to an eyewitness's identification of defendant in a photo lineup because the lineup was not impermissibly suggestive. Defendant failed to show that his trial counsel's performance was deficient or that his counsel was ineffective for failing to object to the admission of evidence that defendant and his co-defendant were in an intimate same-sex relationship. Although the trial court gave an incorrect instruction to the jury on the proper use of admitted evidence of other acts, the instruction did not affect the trial outcome in light of the strong evidence of defendants' guilt. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Ellington, Filed On: February 20, 2024, Case #: S23A0942, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, Murder
J. Ellington finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Defendant failed to show that he suffered a constructive denial of his right to counsel based on his trial counsel's alleged failure to subject the state's case to meaningful adversarial testing. Defendant's counsel engaged in discovery, filed pre-trial motions, prepared defense witnesses and cross-examined most of the state's witnesses. Defendant failed to show that he was prejudiced by his trial counsel's allegedly deficient performance. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Ellington, Filed On: February 6, 2024, Case #: S23A1024, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, Murder
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J. Ellington finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of murder and aggravated assault and correctly denied defendant's motion for a new trial. Sufficient evidence was presented to support defendant's convictions and to allow the jury to find that defendant shared his co-defendants' criminal intent. The trial court correctly denied defendant's motion to suppress evidence seized from his home pursuant to a search warrant. Defendant failed to show that his trial counsel's joint representation of him and his brother, a co-defendant, gave rise to an actual conflict of interest that prejudiced defendant. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Ellington, Filed On: January 17, 2024, Case #: S23A1207, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, Murder, Assault
J. Ellington finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of murder. Defendant failed to show that the was prejudiced by the trial court's failure to give an accomplice corroboration jury instruction since there was substantial evidence presented at trial corroborating the witness's testimony. The trial court did not commit any error by admitting into evidence a document titled "proof of incarceration" with defendant's information on it which was found at the crime scene. The probative value of the document outweighed the risk of unfair prejudice to defendant because it was relevant to show defendant was likely present at the crime scene around the time of the murder. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Ellington, Filed On: November 7, 2023, Case #: S23A0871, Categories: Murder, Jury Instructions
J. Ellington finds that the appeals court improperly upheld defendant's conviction for felony contributing to the dependency of a minor. The evidence was insufficient to allow the jury to find that defendant's failure to provide proper parental care was the proximate cause of the victim's death from blunt force injuries. There was no evidence that defendant's drug use proximately caused the victim's death or that defendant's tolerance of the co-defendant's drug use probably led to his violent conduct toward the victim. Reversed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Ellington, Filed On: October 24, 2023, Case #: S22G0747, Categories: Child Victims
J. Ellington finds that the appeals court improperly upheld the trial court's grant of judgment on the pleadings in favor of the sheriff in a wrongful death action brought by the widow arising from her husband's death from "excited delirium" while he was restrained in the back seat of a deputy's patrol car after being tasered. The appeals court incorrectly limited the meaning of the word "use" in a statute related to waiver of sovereign immunity for injuries arising from the "negligent use of a covered motor vehicle." The appeals court incorrectly found that the patrol car was not being used as a vehicle while the deputies were using it to confine and restrain the husband. The alleged acts committed by the deputies involved the use of a covered motor vehicle. Reversed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Ellington, Filed On: October 11, 2023, Case #: S22G1152, Categories: Wrongful Death, Police Misconduct
J. Ellington finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment. There is no ambiguity between the statutory definitions of felony murder and homicide by vehicle predicated on a violation of the statute for fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, therefore the rule of lenity does not apply in this case and defendant was correctly sentenced. Defendant's sentence is not excessive. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Ellington, Filed On: October 11, 2023, Case #: S23A0589, Categories: Murder, Sentencing
J. Ellington finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of murder, aggravated assault and other offenses. Sufficient evidence was presented to support defendant's convictions and to allow the jury to find that defendant was a party to the crimes. Defendant failed to show that his trial counsel performed deficiently or was conflicted in representing both him and his brother. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Ellington, Filed On: September 19, 2023, Case #: S23A0758, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, Murder, Assault
J. Ellington finds that the trial court improperly ruled in favor of the state in a declaratory judgment action brought by the individual challenging the constitutionality of a statute prohibiting him from possessing a gun due to his felon status for a health care fraud conviction. The Georgia Board of Public Safety denied the individual's application for relief. The trial court incorrectly found that the individual's statutory claim was barred due to sovereign immunity and incorrectly ruled that it could not reach the merits of the individual's federal constitutional claim. However, the individual failed to show that his conviction falls within the specific categories in the statute. Reversed in part.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Ellington, Filed On: September 6, 2023, Case #: S23A0699, Categories: Civil Rights, Firearms
J. Ellington finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of murder. Sufficient evidence was presented to support defendant's conviction and to show that defendant's shooting of the victim was not justified. The trial court correctly instructed the jury and was not required to send written instructions out with the jury. No juror voiced any concern about having difficulty hearing during the jury charge even if the transcript notes that parts of the charge were inaudible to the court reporter due to construction or other noise. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Ellington, Filed On: August 21, 2023, Case #: S23A0647, Categories: Murder, Jury Instructions
J. Ellington finds that the trial court properly denied defendant's motion for a new trial following his murder and cruelty to children convictions. Defendant failed to show that he was prejudiced by his trial counsel's failure to object to a crime scene technician's fiber evidence opinion testimony or by his counsel's failure to present expert testimony rebutting the technician's opinion. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Ellington, Filed On: August 21, 2023, Case #: S23A0465, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, Murder
J. Ellington finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of murder and did not commit any error in failing to charge the jury on voluntary manslaughter and mutual combat. Neither the victim's decision to bring a weapon into defendant's home nor the victim's alleged use of threatening words and racial epithets amount to the types of provocation that could support a voluntary manslaughter charge. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Ellington, Filed On: June 21, 2023, Case #: S23A0531, Categories: Murder, Jury Instructions
J. Ellington finds that the trial court properly convicted defendant of murder. Although the trial court's charge failed to correctly instruct the jury on the essential elements of felony murder and aggravated assault with intent to murder, defendant failed to show that the incorrect jury charge affected the trial outcome. There was compelling evidence in the record that defendant intended to kill the victim and that he participated in the crime. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Ellington, Filed On: May 31, 2023, Case #: S23A0322, Categories: Murder, Jury Instructions
J. Ellington finds that the trial court properly granted the state's motion to dismiss the professors' declaratory relief action seeking to block a 2017 statutory amendment removing public colleges and other public post-secondary institutions from the statutory definition of "school safety zone." The amendment decriminalized the carrying or possession of a weapon on college campuses with some exceptions. The trial court lacked jurisdiction over the challenge because the board of regents adopted gun-carrying policies that are consistent with the amendment. The board's action therefore moots the professors' challenge to the amendment. Affirmed.
Court: Georgia Supreme Court, Judge: Ellington, Filed On: May 31, 2023, Case #: S23A0167, Categories: Education, Firearms