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Lewisv.The State

CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
Docket No.S18A1621
DecidedDecember 10, 2018
JudgesSupreme Court of Georgia
Tags
CriminalCriminal LawCriminal ProcedureEvidenceDue ProcessMurder & MayhemTales From the CryptMotion for New Trial
Case Summary

Anthony Lewis was convicted of murder and firearm possession after Brandon Jones was shot repeatedly outside an Atlanta apartment complex. Lewis challenged the State’s failure to disclose a police interview obtained during a separate murder investigation, arguing that the material could have supported his claim that another man was the shooter. The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed. The Court independently found the trial evidence sufficient, including eyewitness identifications, evidence that Lewis threatened Jones before the shooting, testimony about Lewis’s conduct after the crime, and a recorded jailhouse call in which he coached an alibi witness. The undisclosed interview summary did not create a reasonable probability of a different verdict. It did not undermine the principal eyewitness accounts or the recording, and the possible connection between the separate investigation and Lewis’s alternative theory was too tenuous. The Court held that the evidence was not material under the governing due-process disclosure standard and left the murder and firearm convictions intact.

Opinion

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