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Jenkinsv.State

CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
Docket No.S23A0534
DecidedNovember 2, 2023
Reporter317 Ga. 585; 894 S.E.2d 566; 2023 Ga. LEXIS 236
JudgesPETERSON, Presiding Justice. All the Justices concur, except Ellington, McMillian, LaGrua, and Colvin, JJ., who dissent.
Tags
CriminalMirandaRight to CounselCustodial InterrogationMotion to SuppressHarmless ErrorRetrial
Case Summary

Larry Jenkins was 17 when he was arrested for the 1993 killings of Terry and Michael Ralston. After a habeas court granted a new trial, a 2014 jury convicted him using his confession and other custodial statements made the day after he told officers during booking that he would not answer questions without a lawyer. Jenkins argued the trial court wrongly treated his request as an anticipatory Miranda invocation because formal questioning was not then underway. The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed the convictions. It held that, given Jenkins’s arrest, Miranda warnings, questioning in the patrol car, and booking by an officer involved in his arrest, a reasonable person could believe interrogation was imminent, so his unequivocal request invoked his right to counsel. The State did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that admitting his later statements was harmless; although the remaining evidence was sufficient for retrial, it was not overwhelming. The Court did not decide whether the trial court could revisit an earlier suppression order or whether the victim’s pocketbook, found using Jenkins’s statements, should also have been suppressed because that issue was unpreserved.

Opinion

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