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Chancev.State

CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
Docket No.S12A0684
DecidedJune 18, 2012
Reporter291 Ga. 241; 728 S.E.2d 635; 2012 Fulton County D. Rep. 1902; 2012 WL 2218738; 2012 Ga. LEXIS 580
JudgesSupreme Court of Georgia
Tags
CriminalCriminal ProcedureCriminal LawEvidenceSufficiency of the EvidenceDouble JeopardyJury InstructionsConfrontation ClauseIneffective Assistance of CounselMergerVacaturSpecial Concurrence
Case Summary

Christopher Chance was convicted of felony murder, attempted cocaine possession, and possessing a firearm during a crime after a fatal roadside drug transaction. The Georgia Supreme Court held that the evidence supported the felony-murder conviction because, in the circumstances presented, attempting to purchase cocaine was inherently dangerous and sufficiently connected to the shooting. It vacated the separate conviction and sentence for attempted cocaine possession because that offense merged into felony murder. The court rejected Chance's challenges to the refusal to give an inherent-dangerousness instruction and to the handling of a brief, unrelated telephone contact between a prosecutor and a juror. It also upheld the admission of website testimony and some website printouts, while recognizing that Craigslist printouts lacked adequate authentication. The court rejected claims concerning a photographic reenactment, late disclosure of expert testimony, newly discovered evidence, and ineffective assistance of counsel. It affirmed the remaining judgments and vacated only the merged drug conviction. Justice Hunstein concurred specially, arguing that drug-related felonies should be treated as dangerous per se and that juries should not be required to decide inherent dangerousness in every drug transaction.

Opinion

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Chance V. State — The Atlanta Gleaner