The Atlanta Gleaner.

Legal News

Edited By George Washington

(Testing in progress)

George Washington Statue at Federal Hall

Mahoganyv.State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
Docket No.A22A1556
DecidedFebruary 13, 2023
Reporter366 Ga. App. 750; 884 S.E.2d 141; 2023 Ga. App. LEXIS 76
JudgesDOYLE, Presiding Judge. McFadden, P. J., and Senior Appellate Judge Herbert E. Phipps concur.
Tags
CriminalGeorgia Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention ActArmed RobberyGang Expert TestimonySocial Media EvidenceHearsayHome Invasion
Case Summary

Two armed men entered Terry Williams’s home while four men played cards; the unmasked assailant pointed a handgun at them, took their money, and fled. Williams and another victim identified Robert Mahogany, and Facebook posts and videos showed him displaying G-Shine Bloods symbols and a gun. A jury convicted Mahogany of 11 Georgia Street Gang Act counts, four armed robberies, three aggravated assaults, first-degree home invasion, and two firearm counts, and he received a 30-year sentence with 20 years in prison. He challenged the sufficiency of the evidence and the gang expert’s qualifications and presence during trial, and claimed hearsay error involving Facebook posts and an unavailable victim’s lineup identification. The Court of Appeals held eyewitness testimony and the gang expert’s testimony about Mahogany’s social-media material supported the convictions; the trial court could qualify the experienced officer as an expert and allow him to remain in court. Williams had not testified before the jury about the Facebook posts, and any error admitting Brooks’s lineup identification through officers was harmless given other identifications. The court affirmed. It declined to consider the State’s unraised merger challenge because correcting it would harm Mahogany and no exceptional circumstances justified doing so.

Opinion

Loading published copy…

The Far Side