Recently, the Georgia Court of Appeals was asked to determine if the introduction of a prior independent act which places a defendant’s character at issue should result in a mistrial when the defendant does not induce error nor open the door to the independent act. The court ruled that a mistrial should be granted in […]
The Georgia Court of Appeals was faced with deciding whether a trial court properly granted a defendant immunity when the alleged victim recanted her story and the state failed to produce any other evidence at a pretrial hearing. The court ruled that the defendant was entitled to immunity, since there was evidence for the trial […]
The Georgia Court of Appeals recently had to determine if evidence was sufficient to support a conviction for possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and possession of marijuana under a theory of constructive possession. The court held there was not sufficient evidence, since the defendant’s cousin had equal access to the drugs but was […]
After the recent allegations hit the Peanut Corp.of America about the presence of salmonella in products it shipped from its Georgia plant, we decided to explore what sort of federal or Georgia criminal laws might apply to this case. (If you are interested in the details, a legal memo addressing food safety and criminal prosecutions […]
Gainesville criminal lawyer and public defender Anne Watson won a very difficult child molestation trial for her client earlier this week. Her client, Joshua Stewart, had been charged with aggravated child molestation based on allegations that he molested a 4 year old girl he was babysitting. He had spent the last year and seven months […]