Georgia v. James
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Appellees James and Lawson and two other men were charged in an indictment for the 2005 murders of Jeremiah Ingram and Fatima Fisher. James and Lawson were convicted of murder in separate trials; another co-defendant was acquitted in a trial that took place after the trials of appellees; and the fourth co-indictee pled guilty to a charge of voluntary manslaughter. Both appellees moved for new trial and after conducting a hearing on appellee James's motion, the trial court issued an order in September 2011 that granted new trials to both appellees. The trial court based its grant of new trials on the unavailability at appellees' trials of a piece of evidence that was available at the trial of the co-indictee who was acquitted. The evidence at issue was the second page of the three-page investigative summary compiled by the Office of the Fulton County Medical Examiner. The trial court called the missing page a "critical piece of evidence" and ruled that new trials were required. The State directly appealed the trial court's grant of new trials to appellees Christopher James and Herman Lawson, co-indictees who were convicted in 2008 of malice murder in separate jury trials in the Superior Court of Fulton County. Upon review, the Supreme Court concluded that the trial court erred and reversed the trial court's order granting new trials to James and Lawson.
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