Stribling v. Georgia
Annotate this CaseBobby Stribling, Jr. appealed his convictions for malice murder and other crimes arising from the fatal beating of William Thomas, Jr. Thomas was placed in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator as a result of the beating, but was taken off the ventilator when his condition failed to improve. On appeal, Stribling’s sole argument was that the evidence was insufficient to convict him, because there was evidence that Thomas might have survived had life support not been withdrawn, and thus the withdrawal of life support was the intervening and ultimate cause of Thomas’s death. The Georgia Supreme Court found the trial evidence authorized the jury to conclude that Thomas did not have a realistic chance of survival and that Stribling’s actions were the proximate cause of Thomas’s death. Therefore, it affirmed Stribling’s murder conviction, but vacated several sentences on convictions that should have merged.
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