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Scottv.The State

CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
Docket No.S17A0721
DecidedSeptember 13, 2017
JudgesSupreme Court of Georgia
Tags
CriminalCriminal LawJury InstructionsPlain ErrorSentencingVacaturRemand
Case Summary

A Fulton County jury acquitted Jeremy Scott of malice murder but convicted him of felony murder, aggravated assault, and two firearm offenses arising from the shooting death of Dexter Holliday. Scott argued that the trial court failed to instruct the jury to consider each charge separately. The Supreme Court of Georgia held that, viewed as a whole, the charge adequately conveyed that requirement through its references to the multiple counts, separate offense definitions, venue for each crime, and a verdict form listing each count separately. The court also held that Scott could not establish plain error because he identified no obvious instructional error and showed no effect on the outcome. The court nevertheless vacated the merger of the convicted-felon firearm-possession count into a felony-murder count that had been vacated by operation of law. The judgment was affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded for resentencing on that firearm count.

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