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Earlyv.State

CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
Docket No.S22A0265
DecidedMay 3, 2022
Reporter313 Ga. 667; 872 S.E.2d 705; 2022 Ga. LEXIS 133; 2022 WL 1309033
JudgesChief Justice Nahmias authored the opinion; all Justices concurred
Tags
CriminalFelony MurderAggravated AssaultMergerTrial EvidenceJail Video
Case Summary

Darrall Early was convicted of felony murder and aggravated assault for shooting Ramonte Harris, his friend. Early told police that Harris punched him before he fired, but witnesses described an argument and testified that Harris shoved Early only after Early pointed a gun at him. The Georgia Supreme Court upheld admission of a short jail body-camera video in which Early said, “I’m a murderer”: the statement was probative and the brief video was not unfairly prejudicial; admitting it was not plain constitutional error because no controlling authority barred such evidence. The Court also held that aggravated assault did not merge with felony murder predicated on unlawful firearm possession. The voluntary-manslaughter verdict had been vacated by operation of law, leaving no conviction for the assault to merge into. The Court affirmed Early’s convictions and sentence; all Justices concurred.

Opinion

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