Must charge accident to jury

OGILVIE v. STATE Shirley Ogilvie appealed her convictions of vehicular homicide in the second degree (OCGA § 40-6-393(c)) and failing to stop for a pedestrian in a crosswalk (OCGA § 40-6-91(a)). Shirley argued the trial court erred by declining to give Ogilvie’s requested charge on accident. The trial court failed to explain to the jury […]

Cannot search car post arrest

BOYKINS v. STATE – Following trial, Reginald Boykins was convicted of possession of cocaine and sentenced to four years imprisonment. He appealed his conviction and the denial of his motion to suppress drug evidence seized from his vehicle to the Court of Appeals, arguing that the vehicle search violated his Fourth Amendment rights under the […]

During jury selection, the prosecutor cannot make remarks which would prejudice the panel. Doing so, requires the panel to be excused under a challenge to the poll.

NEW CASE just published Bell v. State, A11A0118 (July 5, 2011). Following his 2005 conviction for rape, defendant appealed from the denial of his motion for new trial. During voir dire, the panel member stated that he had heard of a person named James Bell who was accused of a previous sexual assault in another […]

statements to cops are excluded where the statements stem from an illegal arrest

In 1975, the Supreme Court of the United States held in Brown v. Illinois, 422 U.S. 590 (95 SC 2254, 45 LE2d 416) (1975), statements derived from an illegal arrest or detention should be suppressed where the statements were not ‘sufficiently an act of free will.’  In Brown, the police broke into the defendant’s apartment, […]

Sometimes it is good to be the thief

An Office Depot in Fulton County had video and still photographs, clearly showing Fields’s unobstructed face and body from several angles, stealing laptops. Fields’s features, which matched those of the man in the video, were described by the interviewing officer who identified Fields in the courtroom. Two witnesses testified that Fields appeared to be the […]