Karen White Isenhowerv.The State
Karen White Isenhower, a Heard County commissioner and parent, went to her child’s high school seeking officials to discuss alleged child-labor and asbestos issues. After school personnel repeatedly asked her to leave, she left the buildings and campus, then waited across the street until a state superintendent departed. A jury convicted her of loitering on school premises and criminal trespass. The Georgia Court of Appeals reversed the loitering conviction but affirmed the trespass conviction. Georgia’s loitering statute required proof that Isenhower willfully failed to remove herself after a principal or designee requested her departure. The undisputed evidence showed that she complied with each request and took only two to four minutes to walk from the building to the parking lot; no evidence showed that she intentionally delayed leaving. The court therefore held that no rational jury could find the required willful failure. The court separately upheld the trespass conviction based on her unauthorized presence during a later school visit and rejected her request for a justification instruction because the evidence did not support that defense. Because the loitering evidence was insufficient, the court did not reach related ineffective-assistance or judicial-comment claims. The judgment was affirmed in part and reversed in part.
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