Chua v. State
Annotate this CaseDefendant appealed his convictions for felony murder and violating the Georgia Controlled Substances Act ("VGCSA"), Title 16, Chapter 13, in connection with the death of a young man. Defendant asserted that the evidence was insufficient to authorize the jury to find him guilty of violating the VGCSA by distributing controlled substances; felony murder; and VGSA by keeping a dwelling for the purposes of using controlled substances. The court held that the evidence authorized the jury to find defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of multiple counts of distributing controlled substances by prescribing them in a manner that was not in the usual course of his professional practice and was not for a legitimate medical purpose in violation of OCGA 16-13-41(f). The court also held that defendant's felonies of illegally providing controlled substances through prescriptions were dangerous felonies and the young man's death was a foreseeable result within the meaning of the felony murder statute. The court further held that, while the jury could infer that controlled substances had been kept and used at defendant's home on more than one occasion by the young man, without a showing that a purpose of defendant's maintaining a house was for such use by the young man, a guilty verdict was not authorized. Accordingly, the judgment of conviction and sentence on this count was vacated. The court finally held that the trial court did not err in admitting the testimony of two other young men who had formed relationships with defendant and that the trial court did not err in failing to give the exact "good faith" jury instructions defendant requested.
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