Court Filings

The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed David William Kelly’s convictions for the 2017 shooting death of his wife. Kelly challenged the sufficiency of the evidence, voir dire limits, hearsay rulings (including use of the residual hearsay exception), admission of certain testimony, and multiple claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. The Court reviewed the trial evidence in detail, found the forensic and witness evidence supported the jury’s verdict, held the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting challenged testimony under OCGA § 24-8-807, and concluded Kelly failed to show deficient performance or prejudice from his attorneys’ actions. The convictions and sentence were affirmed.

The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Deon Altron Ellison’s convictions for felony murder and a firearm offense arising from the 2023 fatal shooting of his cousin. Ellison challenged the convictions on four grounds: inconsistent verdicts, prosecutorial misconduct involving a key witness, improper limitations on jury selection, and denial of a mistrial after closing argument. The Court held that any perceived inconsistency in the verdicts did not require reversal, the record did not show that the prosecution knowingly elicited false testimony or suppressed material evidence, the voir dire objection was not preserved, and the mistrial/closing-argument claim was also unpreserved. The convictions and sentence were therefore affirmed.

The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed Bobby Crawford’s conviction for malice murder arising from the beating death of his roommate, Timothy Walker. After a jury trial and the denial of his amended motion for new trial, Crawford appealed, arguing the evidence was constitutionally insufficient because the State failed to disprove self-defense and raising three trial-court-error claims. The Court held the evidence — including eyewitness testimony, physical and autopsy findings, and Crawford’s own testimony — allowed a rational jury to reject his self-defense claim. Any error admitting a 2001 other-acts conviction was harmless given the overwhelming evidence of guilt.

The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed John Bailey’s convictions, including life without parole for felony murder predicated on kidnapping. Bailey argued his trial counsel was ineffective for not moving to suppress cell-phone records obtained via a Google search warrant that he said lacked probable cause and particularity. The Court assumed, without deciding, that counsel might have been deficient but found no prejudice because the record does not show that any evidence from the challenged Google warrant was used at trial. Cell-site and carrier records used at trial came from Sprint/T-Mobile and other carrier records, undermining Bailey’s claim of a different outcome.

The Georgia Court of Appeals denied the appellant's emergency motion seeking a stay or supersedeas while the appeal is docketed. The order is a short administrative disposition entered on April 20, 2026, declining temporary relief; it does not address the merits of the underlying appeal. The clerk certified the order as an extract from the court minutes.

The Court of Appeals dismissed Jimmy Wallace's appeal as premature. Wallace was convicted and filed a timely motion for new trial, then filed a motion to withdraw that motion and the next day filed a notice of appeal. Because the trial court had not yet ruled on the motion for new trial or the motion to withdraw it, the case remained pending below and the appellate court lacked jurisdiction under Georgia law. The court relied on statutory timing rules for appeals and precedent holding that the appellate clock does not start until the trial court finally disposes of a motion for new trial.

The Court of Appeals ordered that the defendant Curtis Tyner’s direct appeal from the denial of a motion to vacate sentence in a murder and related convictions case be transferred to the Supreme Court of Georgia. The Court concluded it lacks jurisdiction because the Georgia Constitution and state law give the Supreme Court jurisdiction over cases in which the death penalty may be imposed, and that jurisdiction extends to post-judgment motions in murder cases. The transfer was granted so the Supreme Court can decide the appeal and any issues raised by Tyner.

The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s order granting defendant Tonya Newberry a new trial after a jury convicted her of furnishing contraband and crossing a guard line. The State argued the grant was premature because no judgment had been entered, that the trial court misapplied the thirteenth-juror standard, and that the judge should have been recused. The court held the premature order was not void, found no abuse of discretion in granting a new trial on weight-of-the-evidence grounds given conflicting witness credibility and lack of video, and declined to review the recusal denial because it was entered after the State’s appeal.

The Court of Appeals dismissed James Fields's appeal for lack of jurisdiction because the trial court record lacks a written disposition as to Count 2 (a firearm charge). Fields was convicted on Count 5 (attempted armed robbery) and Count 6 (firearm during a felony) and acquitted on Count 1, while Count 3 resulted in a mistrial and Counts 3 and 4 were dead-docketed. Under Georgia law, an appeal from a multi-count indictment is only ripe when each count has a written judgment; because Count 2 remains unresolved in the record, Fields needed to seek interlocutory review and did not, so the appeal was dismissed.

The Georgia Court of Appeals granted James Lampru's application for discretionary appeal on April 17, 2026. The court allowed the appellant to file a Notice of Appeal within 10 days of the order and directed the Superior Court clerk to include this order in the record transmitted to the Court of Appeals. The order is procedural: it accepts review and sets steps for the appeal record and filing, without addressing the merits of the underlying case.

The Court of Appeals dismissed a duplicative cross-appeal filed by defendant Austin Luke Bradley. The State had appealed a trial court order granting Bradley's motion in limine; Bradley filed a timely cross-appeal challenging an earlier denial of his motion to suppress. Bradley later refiled the same notice of cross-appeal after the trial court re-entered its denial nunc pro tunc. Because that second filing duplicated an already pending cross-appeal in a separate docket number, the Court dismissed the later appeal as superfluous.

The Georgia Court of Appeals considered an Application for Discretionary Appeal in the criminal case captioned TZVI YEHUDA STRAUSS v. THE STATE (LC No. 25CR00175) and issued a short order on April 16, 2026. The court denied the application for discretionary appeal, meaning it declined to review the lower court's decision. No written opinion or reasoning is included in the order; the denial is a discretionary procedural ruling rather than a substantive decision on the merits.

The Georgia Court of Appeals dismissed Dwayne Eugene Jackson’s direct appeal of his March 2026 guilty plea and 20-year sentence because the appeal was not filed under the state’s newly amended discretionary review procedure required for guilty pleas entered on or after May 14, 2025. The court explained that OCGA § 5-6-35 now requires such appeals to begin by application for discretionary review and that failure to follow that procedure is jurisdictional. Because Jackson did not comply, the court concluded it lacks jurisdiction and dismissed the appeal.

The Court of Appeals vacated the trial court’s order that had granted Ricky Thompson an out-of-time appeal from his convictions for involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault. The court found the trial court lacked authority under the statutory deadline in OCGA § 5-6-39.1 because Thompson filed his motion 114 days after the time to appeal expired, exceeding the statute’s 100-day window. The panel remanded with directions to dismiss the out-of-time appeal motion and noted that any remedy must be pursued by habeas corpus under existing precedent.

The Court of Appeals dismissed Roy Boone Bright's appeal from the trial court's denial of a December 2025 motion that sought to vacate his 2019 convictions and recidivist sentence. The court held Bright had no right to appeal because his filing improperly attempted to collaterally attack the validity of his convictions through a post-conviction motion that is not a permitted procedure in a criminal case. The court relied on Georgia Supreme Court precedent establishing that such efforts to set aside convictions by post-conviction motion are not appealable and therefore must be dismissed.

The Court of Appeals of Georgia affirmed Marcelino Rebollar’s convictions and sentences. After a jury convicted Rebollar of two counts of aggravated child molestation and one count of child molestation, he appealed, challenging the sufficiency of evidence for one aggravated-child-molestation count, trial counsel’s effectiveness for not requesting a lesser-attempt charge, and the constitutionality of consecutive life sentences. The court found the evidence sufficient, concluded counsel’s choices were reasonable trial strategy and not shown to be deficient, and held the sentencing claim was unpreserved because it was not raised at sentencing. The convictions and sentences were affirmed.

The Court of Appeals dismissed its own consideration of Xavier Demon Walker’s discretionary application and transferred the matter to the Supreme Court of Georgia. Walker was convicted of felony murder and other crimes, and the trial court denied his new-trial motion. Because felony murder carries a possible death penalty and the Georgia Constitution gives the Supreme Court jurisdiction over cases where death was imposed or could be imposed, the Court of Appeals concluded it lacks jurisdiction and transferred the application to the Supreme Court for disposition.

The Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed William Freeman’s convictions on four counts of child molestation. Freeman had initially been appointed counsel but requested to represent himself; the trial court held a thorough Faretta hearing, found his waiver of counsel knowing and voluntary, and later an amended indictment added two additional like charges. Freeman argued on appeal the court should have re-inquired after the amended indictment and failed to ensure he understood the risks of self-representation. The appellate court found the original Faretta hearing adequate, no post-waiver request for counsel was made, and the amended charges did not change the nature or maximum exposure, so the waiver remained valid.

The Georgia Court of Appeals granted the appellant's motion to remand this criminal appeal to the trial court so the trial court can complete the appellate record. The trial court is directed to add exhibits that were properly admitted at the October 4, 2022 hearing. After the exhibits are filed or the trial court issues an order that the exhibits are unavailable, the Fulton County Superior Court Clerk must transmit the full record, transcripts, and exhibits back to the Court of Appeals for re-docketing under the existing notice of appeal.

The Court of Appeals dismissed Jose Martin Islas's appeal for lack of jurisdiction. Islas had previously been convicted and had his convictions affirmed. He filed a motion to correct a void sentence that the trial court denied on October 16, 2025, and a later motion for reconsideration denied December 5, 2025. Islas filed a notice of appeal on December 22, 2025, which the Court found untimely because Georgia law requires a notice of appeal within 30 days of the challenged order and a reconsideration motion does not extend that deadline or create a separate appealable order.

The Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions of co-defendants Hakeem Neal and Lokari Boyd for home invasion and armed robbery following a joint jury trial. Neal argued the evidence was insufficient and his motion for directed verdict and new trial should have been granted; Boyd argued ineffective assistance of counsel and Confrontation Clause error. The court held the evidence was sufficient (including corroboration of an accomplice) and that Boyd’s challenges failed because the contested testimony was intrinsic or invited by defense, and counsel’s choices were strategic. Both appeals were affirmed.

The Georgia Court of Appeals dismissed Shawn Davart Lockhart Jr.'s appeal for lack of jurisdiction. Lockhart had pled guilty in 2009 and in 2025 sought an out-of-time appeal under OCGA § 5-6-39.1; the trial court denied that motion on 2026-02-19. Lockhart filed a notice of appeal on 2026-03-24, but the Court of Appeals held the notice was untimely because it was filed 33 days after entry of the order and thus did not satisfy the 30-day filing requirement. Because timely filing of a notice of appeal is jurisdictional, the court dismissed the appeal.

The Court of Appeals dismissed Marvin Hillman III’s discretionary application challenging the denial of his 2025 extraordinary motion for a new trial because the application was untimely. Hillman sought review of the trial court’s December 17, 2025 order but filed his discretionary application to this Court on March 20, 2026, which was 93 days after the order. The Court held it lacks jurisdiction where a discretionary application is not filed within the 30-day period required by OCGA § 5-6-35(d), and therefore dismissed the application for failure to comply with the statute's jurisdictional deadline.

The Georgia Court of Appeals dismissed an interlocutory application by defendant Calvin Lewis Neal challenging a trial court’s December 22, 2025 order that vacated a prior suppression ruling and denied his motion to suppress. The Court held it lacked jurisdiction because the trial court’s certificate of immediate review was not entered within ten days of the December 22 order as required by OCGA § 5-6-34(b). The Court explained the ten-day certificate requirement is jurisdictional and instructed the trial court on how to allow interlocutory review (vacate and re-enter the order and then promptly issue a certificate).

The Court of Appeals dismissed Victor Oswald Robinson Jr.'s original mandamus petition because the court lacks jurisdiction. Robinson filed in the Supreme Court of Georgia seeking an order requiring the trial court to rule on pretrial pro se motions; the Supreme Court transferred the matter to the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals held that a party seeking mandamus against a superior court judge must first pursue relief in the superior court itself and that this case does not present the extremely rare circumstances that would justify invoking the Court of Appeals' original jurisdiction. The petition was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.

The Court of Appeals dismissed an appeal by E. Marcellus Windhom challenging the trial court’s November 19, 2025 order that dismissed his motion for leave to file an out-of-time motion for new trial. Windhom filed his notice of appeal on February 12, 2026, 85 days after the order, but Georgia law requires a notice of appeal within 30 days. Because timely filing of a notice of appeal is a jurisdictional requirement, the Court concluded it lacked jurisdiction and dismissed the appeal.

The Court of Appeals determined it lacks jurisdiction over Santavious Roberts's appeal from a November 21, 2024 felony-murder conviction and life sentence because the Georgia Supreme Court has exclusive appellate jurisdiction over cases in which the death penalty could be imposed. The Court of Appeals therefore transferred the appeal to the Supreme Court of Georgia for disposition, citing the state constitution, the felony-murder statute, and recent precedent recognizing the Supreme Court's practice of reviewing all murder cases even when death was not sought.

The Georgia Court of Appeals dismissed Reginald Harvey’s application for discretionary appeal from the trial court’s December 30, 2025 denial of his motion to correct sentence because the application was filed beyond the 30-day statutory deadline. Harvey had been convicted in 2016 and previously sentenced as a recidivist; he sought to challenge that sentence as void. The court held it lacks jurisdiction to consider untimely discretionary applications under OCGA § 5-6-35(d) and relevant precedent, so Harvey’s March 10, 2026 filing (70 days after the order) was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.

The Georgia Court of Appeals considered an application for an interlocutory appeal filed by Desmond Camp in two criminal cases (LC Nos. 25CR0733 and 26CR0023) and denied the application on April 1, 2026. The order is brief: the court reviewed the request for permission to take an appeal before final judgment and concluded that interlocutory review was not warranted, issuing a simple denial without published opinion or extended reasoning. The clerk certified the order as an extract from the court minutes.