Adkins v. State, 314 Ga. 477

Marion Adkins was indicted for malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and a weapons offense after Latisha Gresham was found dead in his Athens home on January 26, 2019; a jury convicted him on all counts and he received life on the murder conviction and a consecutive five-year term for the weapons count.
Witnesses placed Adkins and Gresham together the night before; no one observed Adkins leave the residence before Gresham was discovered dead near his bedroom door with a gun beside her and a plastic bag over part of her head.
Police observed no clear sign of forced entry; one window had a small hole but did not appear to be used for entry; a side door was closed and appeared blocked.
The medical examiner ruled the manner of death a homicide from a gunshot wound to the head, finding a front-to-back entry and wounds inconsistent with a typical self-inflicted contact wound; stippling suggested a firing range of six inches to three feet.
The defense argued the State’s proof was entirely circumstantial and failed to exclude reasonable hypotheses (an unknown assailant or suicide) and that the trial court erred by refusing a jury instruction on “grave suspicion.”

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of circumstantial evidence under OCGA § 24-14-6	Adkins: evidence was purely circumstantial and did not exclude other reasonable hypotheses (unknown assailant or suicide); no direct forensic link to Adkins	State: circumstantial facts (Adkins alone with victim, phone call indicating Adkins approaching, body location near Adkins’ bed, no evidence he left, ME and detective testimony) permitted inference of guilt	Affirmed — jury could reasonably reject alternative hypotheses; evidence sufficient under statute
Refusal to charge jury on “grave suspicion”	Adkins: requested the pattern grave-suspicion instruction; its absence deprived him of meaningful guidance	State: trial court instructed on reasonable doubt, presumption of innocence, and mere presence; those instructions covered the concept	Affirmed — no error; court’s other instructions adequately covered the concept and evidence showed more than mere grave suspicion

Tyler v. State, 311 Ga. 727 (2021) (circumstantial-evidence standard and deference to jury on alternative hypotheses)
Bamberg v. State, 308 Ga. 340 (2020) (jury resolves witness credibility and conflicts in circumstantial cases)
Rich v. State, 307 Ga. 757 (2020) (no requirement that the State use any particular type of evidence)
Hughs v. State, 312 Ga. 606 (2021) (jury may reject hypothesis that another household member caused injuries when defendant was alone with victim)
Daniels v. State, 298 Ga. 120 (2015) (rejecting unknown-assailant theory where evidence suggested otherwise)
Walden v. State, 289 Ga. 845 (2011) (jury may reject suicide theory even if pathologist cannot conclusively rule it out)
Evans v. State, 271 Ga. 614 (1999) (sufficient evidence of homicide where pathologist was not fully certain but evidence pointed to homicide)
Lowe v. State, 267 Ga. 180 (1996) (no error in refusing “bare suspicion” instruction when court gave complete reasonable-doubt and presumption-of-innocence instructions)
Welch v. State, 309 Ga. 875 (2020) (no error refusing grave-suspicion charge when instructions and evidence addressed the concept)
Jenkins v. State, 281 Ga. 24 (2006) (same)
Cash v. State, 297 Ga. 859 (2015) (trial court must tailor jury charges to the evidence; instructions should rest on evidentiary foundation)