Erroneous Verdict Form = New Trial

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On Tuesday, the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a Fulton man’s convictions would be reversed due to an improperly worded verdict form. Cheddersingh v. State, S11A1929. In 2008, Soniel Cheddersingh was convicted of malice murder, aggravated assault, armed robbery, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and possession of firearm by…

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Granted Petitions on Criminal Cases for the Month of September

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The Supreme Court has granted two petitions for certiorari and one application for discretionary appeal so far this month. Below is an overview of each case Bunn v. State In its Order granting Cert., from September 6, 2011, the Court notes that it is particularly concerned with the following issue: Does the Child Hearsay Statute…

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Video Arraignments are a Step in the Right Direction

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  Above the Law has a good recent post on the use of video arraignments and how judges find that the process makes them feel safer. I don’t know whether video Arraignments make the process any safer or not. But the process certainly makes the process more efficient. In fact, many of the rituals of…

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E-Filing is the Talk of the Georgia Bar Meeting

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Two days at the annual meeting of the State Bar of Georgia in Myrtle Beach have given me enough material for a week of blogging. For today, the big news is that the Supreme Court will mandate e-filing for all attorneys before the end of the summer and will create a system for submission of…

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How Much Longer Before The Georgia Appellate Court Rules?

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As a father of three children (one still in a car seat and one in a booster) and as an appeals lawyer in Georgia, I get two recurring and related questions. From the children, on car trips, I frequently hear, “Are we there yet?” From my clients and their families, I frequently hear, “when will…

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Is the Exclusionary Rule the New Hot Appellate Issue in Georgia?

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If any case qualifies as an old chestnut, it would be Mapp v. Ohio, the landmark case that provided that evidence gathered in violation of a suspect’s Fourth Amendment rights should be excluded from use at trial. Restricting the use of illegally-gathered evidence is the punishment for the illegal conduct. If there’s a case that…

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Georgia Appeals Court Rules “Mandate Ugliness”

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In his blog yesterday, Kendall Gray referenced the Rules of the Georgia Court of Appeals, citing it as “a jurisdiction with rule-mandated ugliness.” Kendall’s blog post comes at a time when I am reading Typography for Lawyers by William Butterick. I’ve learned a great deal about fonts and layout and was all excited about using…

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