HUNSTEIN, Justice. Appellant Dennis Allaben was found guilty of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault with intent to murder, battery, simple battery, and reckless conduct in connection with the strangulation death of his wife, Maureen Allaben. 1 The felony murder verdict was vacated by operation of law, and the trial court entered a judgment of conviction only for malice murder, merging the remaining verdicts into that conviction. On appeal, Allaben contends, among other things,...
PER CURIAM. This disciplinary matter is before the Court on the petition of Michael Louis Rothenberg (State Bar No. 615671), who seeks to voluntarily surrender his license following his conviction for wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1343. 1 Although he has not yet been sentenced, Rothenberg, who was admitted to the Bar in 2002, admits that, by his conviction, he has violated Rule 8.4(a)(2) of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct. See Bar Rule 4-102(d). The maximum penalty for a...
PER CURIAM. This disciplinary matter is before the Court on the recommendation of the special master, A. Thomas Stubbs, that the Court accept the petition of Thomas Stanley Sunderland (State Bar No. 692400) for voluntary surrender of his license to practice law in Georgia. After the filing of a formal complaint against him, Sunderland filed a petition acknowledging that he pleaded guilty in August 2013 to one count of felony theft by conversion, arising out of his theft of approximately $188,...
THOMPSON, Chief Justice. Appellant Robert Alexander was sentenced to life without parole for the felony murder of Diamone Wilson, a two-year-old child. 1 He appeals from his convictions and the denial of his motion for new trial in which he asserted the trial court erred by limiting the scope of voir dire and improperly commenting on the evidence. For the reasons that follow, we affirm. 1. The jury was authorized to conclude from the evidence presented that prior to her death, Diamone had...
NAHMIAS, Justice. Alex Cowart and John A. Adams appeal their convictions for felony murder and other crimes related to the armed robbery of Sean Giroir, Michael Levi, John Silcox, and Miles Antle and the subsequent shootings that killed Giroir and injured Levi. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm Cowart's convictions but remand his case for resentencing because he was improperly sentenced for two felony murder convictions based on the death of a single victim. And we reverse Adams's...
HINES, Presiding Justice. Grant Murphy Ensley ("Ensley") appeals from his convictions and sentences for the malice murder of his father, Lynn Edward Ensley ("Lynn"), possession of a firearm during the commission of felonies, and the unlawful handling of an explosive device. For the reasons that follow, we affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand for resentencing. 1 Construed to support the verdicts, the evidence showed that Ensley lived with Lynn, a real estate developer, in Lynn's...
HUNSTEIN, Justice. Appellant Rashad Bester appeals his convictions for malice murder and other crimes relating to the strangulation death of Shawna Webber. 1 On appeal, Bester claims that the trial court erred in denying his claim that his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance and his claim that the prosecutor violated his equal protection rights by the use of a peremptory strike in selecting the jury. We affirm Bester's convictions for malice murder and sodomy, but vacate his...
BENHAM, Justice. Melvin Browder filed this appeal from his conviction and sentencing for the murder of Eboni Galloway, aggravated assault of two other victims by discharging a firearm from within a motor vehicle toward a person, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. 1 Browder asserts reversible error on several grounds. First, he asserts the evidence was insufficient to support a conviction of murder or aggravated assault. Browder also claims the trial court erred by...
BLACKWELL, Justice. When Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia, Inc. opened a manufacturing facility in West Point, the Technical College System of Georgia undertook to provide technical and vocational training — as a part of its Quick Start program 1 — to the workers whom Kia hired for the new facility. Years later, Krystal Coleman, Sabrina Robinson Bolston, Tim Durden, and Darrell Strawbridge each submitted a request to the Technical College System pursuant to the Open Records Act, 2 seeking...
BENHAM, Justice. Appellant Darrell Crowder seeks review of his convictions for murder and related crimes for the shooting death of his estranged wife Catcilia Crowder. 1 The trial record shows in a light most favorable to the verdict that in the pre-dawn hours of January 16, 2008, the 16 year-old daughter of appellant and the victim found the victim shot to death in a bathtub in her home. When police arrived at approximately 4:54 a.m. in response to the daughter's 911 call, they discovered...
BENHAM, Justice. The Warden seeks review of the grant of habeas relief to appellee Ryan Allen Smith. The record shows appellee was convicted of malice murder and sentenced to life in prison in 2002. 1 This Court affirmed appellee's conviction in Smith v. Georgia, 277 Ga. 213, 586 S.E.2d 639 (2003), cert. denied, 541 U.S. 1032, 124 S.Ct. 2101, 158 L.Ed.2d 715 (2004). Appellee subsequently filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus wherein he alleged that trial/appellate counsel 2 was...
BLACKWELL, Justice. In May 2009, Hubert H. Johnson made a new will, in which he devised his most substantial asset — a pecan farm of 350 acres in Dougherty County — to Donna Ellis Burrell. He died a few weeks later, and Donna promptly filed a petition to probate the will that Hubert made in May 2009. Two of his kin filed caveats, however, alleging that Donna had exerted undue influence upon Hubert with respect to the making of that will, and alleging that Donna had made false statements to...
THOMPSON, Chief Justice. In 1993, Demarcus Sears was convicted of kidnapping with bodily injury and armed robbery in connection with the death of Gloria Wilbur, who was kidnapped and robbed of her automobile in Georgia, raped in Tennessee, and murdered in Kentucky. The jury recommended a death sentence for the kidnapping with bodily injury after finding multiple statutory aggravating circumstances, including that the kidnapping with bodily injury was committed while Sears was engaged in the...
HINES, Presiding Justice. This Court granted a writ of certiorari to the Court of Appeals in Greenway v. Northside Hosp., Inc., 317 Ga.App. 371, 730 S.E.2d 742 (2012), to determine if that Court erred in evaluating Deputy Sheriff Terry Roper's claim that he was entitled to official immunity from liability in connection with the euthanization of two dogs. Finding that the Court of Appeals erred, we reverse that Court's judgment and remand the case to it for further proceedings. As the...
BLACKWELL, Justice. As a general rule, the sovereign immunity of the State and its departments is waived by the Georgia Tort Claims Act for "the torts of state officers and employees ... acting within the scope of their official duties or employment," OCGA 50-21-23(a), but there are exceptions to the general rule. See OCGA 50-21-24(1)-(13). This case concerns one of these exceptions, commonly known as the "discretionary function" exception. See OCGA 50-21-24(2). Here, the guardians of...
MELTON, Justice. In these consolidated cases, Maria Colon and Gwendolyn Warren filed separate lawsuits against their employer, Fulton County, pursuant to Georgia's whistleblower statute, OCGA 45-1-4. Colon and Warren alleged that they were retaliated against after they jointly disclosed to their supervisors and refused to cover up that County employees were violating laws, rules, and regulations, thereby fraudulently wasting and abusing County funds and public money. The County moved to...
HUNSTEIN, Justice. A jury acquitted Christopher Roesser of malice murder, felony murder, and aggravated assault, but was unable to reach a verdict on the lesser included offense of voluntary manslaughter. When the State sought to retry Roesser for voluntary manslaughter, he filed a plea in bar asserting double jeopardy based on collateral estoppel. The trial court denied the plea, and the Court of Appeals affirmed. See Roesser v. State, 316 Ga.App. 850(1), 730 S.E.2d 641 (2012). We...
HINES, Presiding Justice. This Court granted a writ of certiorari to the Court of Appeals in Johnson v. Omondi, 318 Ga.App. 787 , 736 S.E.2d 129 (2012), to determine whether the Court of Appeals properly applied the standards for a medical malpractice claim in a hospital emergency department as found in OCGA 51-1-29.5(c). Finding that the plurality opinion of the Court of Appeals erred, we reverse. As set forth in the plurality opinion of the Court of Appeals, and as revealed in the...
PER CURIAM. This disciplinary matter is before the Court on the petition for voluntary discipline filed by Jarlath Robert MacKenna (State Bar No. 136109) pursuant to Bar Rule 4-227(b)(2). He requests the imposition of an 18-month suspension, and the State Bar requests that the Court accept the petition. MacKenna, who was admitted to the Bar in 2009, admits that he had a consensual sexual relationship with a client while representing her in her divorce action and that he assisted the client in...
HUNSTEIN, Justice. Probate Judge Andrew Bennett denied James Hertz's application for a license to carry a weapon under OCGA 16-11-129 based on Hertz's 1994 nolo contendere plea to five felony charges in Florida. Hertz filed a complaint for mandamus in superior court, alleging the denial violated the state statute and his constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Denying mandamus, the superior count found that the probate judge followed the statutory requirements in denying Hertz's...
