Givens v. Georgia
Annotate this CaseAppellant Alvando Givens, Sr., was convicted of malice murder for the death of Voncetta Render. On appeal, he challenged the sufficiency of the evidence presented against him at trial, and that the trial court erred in its jury charge and arriving at his eventual sentence. Upon review, the Supreme Court found that the trial court indeed erred in calculating appellant's sentence: it sentenced appellant to serve, concurrently to his life sentence on malice murder, life sentences on counts two through ten which were "merged" by the trial court. Since the charges of felony murder were vacated as a matter of law and the remaining charges merged as a matter of fact, there was no reason for the trial court to sentence appellant on any conviction other than malice murder. Accordingly, the life sentences on counts two through ten were vacated. The Supreme Court affirmed the trial court in ll other respects.
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