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Kimv.The State

CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
Docket No.S20A0865
DecidedAugust 24, 2020
Reporter309 Ga. 612
JudgesSupreme Court of Georgia
Tags
CriminalCriminal LawCriminal ProcedureMurder & MayhemTales From the CryptSufficiency of the EvidenceEvidenceMergerSentencingVacatur
Case Summary

Ki Song Kim was convicted in a bench trial of two murders and related offenses arising from the stabbing deaths of Young Chan Choi and Sun Hee Choi. He argued that the circumstantial evidence was insufficient. The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed the convictions. The court held that the evidence authorized the factfinder to reject Kim’s alternative explanation and find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The court also corrected two sentencing errors. The aggravated-battery convictions involving injuries inflicted in the same acts as the fatal stabbings merged into the corresponding malice-murder convictions because no separate criminal acts supported them. The court therefore vacated the sentences on those counts while leaving the murder convictions and remaining judgment intact.

Opinion

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