Murder conviction overturned in Georgia hot car death case
Georgia’s highest court on Wednesday overturned the murder and child cruelty convictions against a man whose toddler son died after he left him in a hot car for hours, saying the jury saw evidence that was “extremely and unfairly prejudicial.”
Georgia Supreme Court gives defendant in teacher slaying route to state funds
The Georgia Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that private attorneys for Ryan Duke may seek to contract with a state agency to receive funding for expert witnesses. However, the court did not rule on whether Duke has a constitutional right to receive taxpayer assistance. Duke’s attorneys say he has no money to pay for expert witnesses in DNA, false confessions and psychology. The state Supreme Court’s decision Monday found that state law allows private attorneys to contract with the Georgia Public Defender Council to receive taxpayer-funded assistance. It sent the case back for Duke’s attorneys to seek a contract but stopped short of ordering the council to enter one.
Former Georgia Supreme Court chief justice dies from virus
ATLANTA – George H. Carley, a former chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, has died. Hunt Jr. said during the 2012 swearing-in ceremony in which Carley became the 29th chief justice of the state Supreme Court. Carley was the first in state history to have served as presiding judge and chief judge of the Georgia Court of Appeals, as well as presiding justice and chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court. Carley was appointed to the Georgia Supreme Court in 1993 by then-Gov. “We are devastated by the loss of Justice Carley, a beloved friend and colleague to so many of us,” Chief Justice Harold Melton said in a statement.