Eberhart v. Georgia
Annotate this CaseAppellant Marcus Eberhart, a former City of East Point police sergeant, challenged his 2016 conviction for felony murder predicated on aggravated assault in connection with the tasing death of Gregory Towns, Jr. Appellant contended the evidence presented at trial was legally insufficient to support his conviction for two reasons: (1) the Georgia Supreme Court’s decision in Ford v. Georgia, 423 SE2d 255 (1992), precluded his felony murder conviction; and (2) proof of intense physical pain was not enough, standing alone, to support a jury finding of serious bodily injury as required for the aggravated assault predicate for his felony murder conviction. The Supreme Court determined Ford did not apply to this case, because the predicate for the felony murder conviction was aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Moreover, the State presented expert medical testimony that the repeated tasing of Towns proximately caused not merely the infliction of intense physical pain, but also death. Accordingly, the Court affirmed Appellant’s felony murder conviction.
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