Meadows v. Georgia
Annotate this CaseRoden Meadows appealed his convictions for murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony arising from the 2018 fatal shooting of Jason Williams. On appeal, Meadows contended the evidence constitutionally insufficient and that the Georgia Supreme Court should exercise its authority under OCGA §§ 5-5-20 and 5-5-21 as the “thirteenth juror” and grant him a new trial. He also argued the trial court erred in three instances by failing to rebuke the prosecutor for making improper and prejudicial statements during closing arguments. The Supreme Court concluded the evidence was sufficient to sustain Meadows’s convictions, and that it did not have authority under the cited statutory law to sit as the “thirteenth juror.” The Court also concluded Meadows failed to preserve his challenges to two of the prosecutor’s statements during closing arguments, and with respect to the third instance, even if the trial court erred by failing to rebuke the prosecutor, any error was harmless. Although not raised by Meadows on appeal, the Court identified in the record a merger error related to the sentence the trial court entered on Count 3 of the indictment. Because the Supreme Court could not resolve this sentencing issue based on the record, it vacated the merger of and sentence on Count 3 and remanded to the trial court for further proceedings.
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