Collins v. State, 308 Ga. 515

On Jan 1, 2011, 14‑year‑old Rueben Hand was stabbed at a MARTA station and later died; surveillance video and eyewitnesses placed Collins at the scene.
Collins was indicted for malice murder, felony murder (predicated on aggravated assault), and three aggravated assaults; jury convicted him of felony murder and the aggravated‑assault predicate; sentenced to life.
Evidence: earlier fight in which Collins believed his phone and money were stolen; Collins accused Hand and two friends, followed them into the station, then ran up and stabbed Hand in the neck from behind.
Collins told a friend he had “retaliated” by stabbing the boy; in a recorded police interview he said he stabbed once after a man reached into his pocket and he meant to flee, not kill.
At trial Collins raised misidentification and lack of intent; counsel objected at the charge conference to the State’s requested ‘‘revenge for a prior wrong’’ jury instruction but did not object after the court read the final charge.
The Georgia Supreme Court reviewed only for plain error and affirmed, holding the revenge instruction was supported by some evidence and was not an improper judicial comment.

Issue	Collins' Argument	State's Argument	Held
Whether the trial court plainly erred by giving the ‘‘revenge for a prior wrong’’ jury instruction	The instruction undermined his misidentification defense and amounted to an improper judicial comment on guilt	Some evidence supported a revenge theory; the instruction tracked the pattern charge and is legally accurate; Collins failed to preserve the objection so only plain error review applies	No plain error. Instruction was supported by some evidence, not an improper comment, and Collins did not preserve a contemporaneous objection; conviction affirmed

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979) (standard for sufficiency of the evidence review)
Vega v. State, 285 Ga. 32 (2009) (deference to jury credibility determinations)
McClure v. State, 306 Ga. 856 (2019) (slight evidence suffices to authorize a requested jury instruction)
Smith v. State, 301 Ga. 79 (2017) (revenge instruction proper where evidence suggested vengeance motive)
Hornbuckle v. State, 300 Ga. 750 (2017) (Georgia pattern revenge instruction is accurate statement of law)
White v. State, 291 Ga. 7 (2012) (contemporaneous objection requirement for jury charge preservation)
State v. Kelly, 290 Ga. 29 (2011) (preservation rules for jury charge objections)
Rector v. State, 285 Ga. 714 (2009) (similar instruction not an improper comment on guilt)