Bennett v. State, 301 Ga. 874

In April 2012 nine-month-old Masiah Copeland died; Otis Lee Bennett (and his mother Hetty) were indicted for malice murder, felony murder, cruelty to children, aggravated assault, and aggravated battery. Bennett was convicted after a January 2014 jury trial and sentenced to life for malice murder plus additional terms; some felony murder counts were later vacated by operation of law.
Victim's mother Celia Copeland lived on-and-off with Bennett and his mother; Copeland later pled guilty to two counts of cruelty to children after testifying at Bennett’s trial.
Medical evidence showed extensive, contemporaneous and healing fractures to both arms and both legs, multiple contusions and hemorrhages (including subdural and subarachnoid hemorrhages), retinal hemorrhage, and blunt force trauma to the head and extremities; cause of death: blunt force injuries leading to brain bleeding and respiratory failure.
Bennett gave multiple inconsistent explanations for the injuries (falls, dropping, tripping, maneuvers to force a bowel movement), admitted near-daily methamphetamine and marijuana use, and was the person alone with the child shortly before she was found unresponsive.
The jury credited the State’s evidence and convicted Bennett; on appeal he argued the evidence was insufficient because it did not exclude the reasonable hypothesis that Copeland (the mother) committed the crimes.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence to sustain convictions	State: circumstantial evidence (injuries, timing, inconsistencies, drug use, presence alone) supports conviction	Bennett: evidence failed to exclude reasonable hypothesis that Copeland committed the abuse and murder; prosecution relied on Copeland's testimony	Affirmed — evidence, viewed favorably to verdict, was sufficient to exclude other reasonable hypotheses and permit conviction
Reliance on circumstantial evidence standard	State: circumstantial proof may suffice if it excludes every reasonable hypothesis except guilt	Bennett: contends evidence does not meet statutory circumstantial-evidence exclusion requirement	Court applied OCGA § 24-14-6 and precedent, holding jury reasonably rejected alternative hypotheses
Sufficiency as to felony-murder count predicated on cruelty to children	State: felony-murder counts were included in indictment	Bennett: challenges sufficiency for that specific predicate felony	Moot — felony-murder counts were vacated by operation of law, so challenge is moot
Timeliness of demurrer to Count 4 (defect in indictment charging felony murder predicated on Hetty's count)	State: procedural default rules apply	Bennett: concedes he failed to timely demur on ground that Count 7 charged only Hetty	Not preserved — issue not properly before Court due to Bennett's concession regarding timeliness

Gibson v. State, 300 Ga. 494 (2017) (standard for assessing whether circumstantial evidence excludes every reasonable hypothesis)
Smiley v. State, 300 Ga. 582 (2017) (affirming sufficiency where jury could infer defendant inflicted fatal injuries)
Gomez v. State, 301 Ga. 445 (2017) (jury’s role in resolving witness credibility and conflicting evidence)
Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979) (standard for reviewing sufficiency of the evidence — whether any rational trier of fact could find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt)
Anderson v. State, 299 Ga. 193 (2016) (mootness principles when a conviction count is vacated)
Mills v. State, 287 Ga. 828 (2010) (same)
Malcolm v. State, 263 Ga. 369 (1993) (merger of counts and effect on sentencing)
Strozier v. State, 277 Ga. 78 (2003) (procedural default for untimely demurrer)
Fouts v. State, 322 Ga. App. 261 (2013) (procedural waiver principles)