GEORGIA SUPREME COURT

State officials say plans to execute a Georgia man who killed an 8-year-old girl and raped her 10-year-old friend 46 years ago will not be carried out as scheduled Tuesday night.

Georgia's highest court Tuesday affirmed a lower court decision that declined to quash the indictment of a former Atlanta police officer who's charged with murder in the shooting death of a 22-year-old man who was driving out of an apartment complex. Former officer James Burns argued the grand jury proceedings that led to his indictment in 2018 should have been held under rules in effect when the shooting happened. A law curtailing officers' special grand jury privileges went into effect less than two weeks after the shooting and the Georgia Supreme Court said it was proper to use the amended rules.

The Georgia Supreme Court is set to get new leadership this week.

Ashley and Albert Debelbot were sitting in the same courtroom where, more than a decade earlier, they were convicted of murdering their newborn daughter. The district attorney walked over and apologized. The Debelbots brought baby McKenzy home two days after her birth in May 2008.

Georgia’s highest court plans to resume in-person hearings after more than a year of remote proceedings during the coronavirus pandemic.

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.

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.

Cromartie took a number of deep breaths while looking at the ceiling before closing his eyes and going still about five minutes after the drugs began flowing, at one point forming his mouth into an "O" and exhaling heavily. Strapped and taped down to a gurney, Cromartie moved little if at all. A news media witness said Cromartie didn't struggle and said nothing while being strapped down to a gurney.