Brown v. State, 295 Ga. 695

On March 20, 2006, Stanley Brown and Norris Degree were shot and killed; a witness (Shannon Dean) identified appellant Tyrone Vincent Brown and two co-defendants as the shooters.
Police executed a fugitive arrest at apartment Z1 on March 23, 2006, arresting Brewington and appellant; officers performed a security sweep and then obtained federal and state search warrants for apartment Z1.
The search of apartment Z1 produced multiple firearms and ammunition; ballistics linked a Taurus 9mm, a Smith & Wesson .38, and a Rossi .38 special recovered from Z1 to the victims’ wounds.
Appellant was indicted on multiple counts including malice murder, felony murder, armed robbery, and weapons offenses; tried separately, convicted on all counts presented against him, and sentenced to life plus additional terms.
Appellant moved to suppress evidence seized from apartment Z1, arguing (on appeal) that the officers failed to show the Brewington arrest warrant existed and that the protective sweep that preceded the search warrants was unlawful; the trial court denied the suppression motion and the Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed.

Issue	Brown's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Standing to challenge search of apartment Z1 (legitimate expectation of privacy)	Brown argued evidence seized should be suppressed; implicitly claimed he could contest the search of Z1	State argued Brown lacked a legitimate expectation of privacy in Z1 and therefore cannot challenge the search	Court held Brown failed to show a legitimate expectation of privacy in Z1 (no proof he lived there or was an overnight guest; only uncertain paperwork with his name), so he lacked standing and cannot invoke the Fourth Amendment to suppress the evidence
Sufficiency of the evidence to support convictions	(Not separately enumerated) Challenge effectively denied—argued insufficiency generally	State: testimony, eyewitness ID, and ballistics tied appellant to the crime and weapons from Z1	Court found evidence sufficient to support convictions beyond a reasonable doubt (Jackson standard)

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (standard for reviewing sufficiency of evidence)
Minnesota v. Carter, 525 U.S. 83 (overnight guest vs. mere presence — expectation of privacy analysis)
Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. 128 (standing to challenge third-party premises search)
Smith v. State, 284 Ga. 17 (discussing expectation of privacy and standing)
Vega v. State, 285 Ga. 32 (credibility and weight of evidence for jury determinations)
Registe v. State, 292 Ga. 154 (standard of review on suppression rulings)
White v. State, 263 Ga. 94 (consideration of suppression and trial transcripts on appeal)