Jackson v. Georgia
Annotate this CaseAppellant Antwan "Rico" Jackson filed an out-of-time appeal to challenge his 2010 convictions for felony murder and attempted cocaine trafficking in connection with the shooting death of Christopher Hoskin. Appellant contended: (1) the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions; (2) the trial court erred in failing to quash the two counts of the indictment on which he was convicted; (3) the court erred in allowing the State in closing argument to denigrate defense counsel and to vouch for a prosecution witness; and (4) the court committed plain error in failing to instruct the jury that a sentence of life imprisonment was mandatory if the jury found him guilty of either of two murder charges. After review, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed in part and vacated in part. The Court found: the evidence was legally sufficient to support Appellant’s convictions, but the trial court erred in entering a judgment of conviction and sentence on the guilty verdict for attempted cocaine trafficking, which merged into the related felony murder conviction. Further, Appellant failed to preserve for appellate review his claims relating to the indictment and the State’s closing argument by not raising them at the appropriate time in the trial court, and the Court previously held that it was not plain error for a trial court not to charge the jury that a sentence of life imprisonment is mandatory if the jury finds the defendant guilty of either malice murder or felony murder. Accordingly, Appellant’s conviction and sentence for attempted cocaine trafficking was vacated; judgment was affirmed in all other respects.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.