Maxwell v. Georgia
Annotate this CaseAppellants Zonnique Maxwell and Tyquarius Washington appealed a trial court’s partial denial of their respective motions for autrefois convict and pleas of procedural double jeopardy based on OCGA sections 16-1-7 and 16-1-8. Jaheim Morris was taken to Memorial Medical Center in Savannah with a gunshot wound to the head; he died from that wound. At the hospital, police learned that Morris had been driven to the hospital in a private car, which had a bullet hole in one of its doors. The occupants of this car (other than Morris) were Maxwell, Washington, and two others. Police searched these individuals for weapons and recovered a handgun from Maxwell and a revolver and a pistol from Washington. Maxwell would be arrested for possessing a handgun by a person under age 18 in state court; after further investigation into Morris’ shooting, Maxwell would be indicted at superior court for felony murder, aggravated assault, weapons possession charges, and violating the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act. She negotiated a guilty plea in state court to the firearm charge, for which she was sentenced to 12 months. Maxwell then moved to dismiss the superior court charges against her on double jeopardy grounds. Similar to Maxwell, Washington was initially arrested at the hospital and charged with misdemeanor carrying weapons without a license in state court. Washington was later indicted in superior court on charges that largely mirrored Maxwell’s. Washington entered a negotiated guilty plea on the firearm charge in state court and was sentenced to 12 months of probation. Thereafter, Washington moved to adopt Maxwell’s procedural double jeopardy motion. The trial court granted Appellants’ motions with regard to the weapons charges as procedurally barred by procedural double jeopardy, but denied the motions with respect to all remaining superior court charges. Appellants challenged that ruling on nearly identical arguments. The Georgia Supreme Court determined that for the majority of the superior court counts, the trial court properly denied Appellants’ motions. However, with respect to one count of street gang activity, against Maxwell and two counts against Washington, the trial court should have dismissed these counts as they were explicitly premised in the indictment on the counts that were dismissed.
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.