Curry v. State
291 Ga. 446
| Ga. | 2012Background
- On August 29, 1985, Curry’s wife Ann and his two children, Erika and Ryan, were found dead in Curry’s house; Ann was eight months pregnant and died from massive blood loss.
- An axe, bloodied, was found in the living room; other valuables appeared undisturbed, and the house showed no sign of forced entry or ransacking.
- Curry, a hospital supervisor, claimed he left work around 9:40 a.m. to buy a fan, with a late-afternoon fan purchase at 12:55 p.m. evidencing his whereabouts; he returned home to discover the bodies.
- Curry offered multiple inconsistent accounts of entering the house and handling objects; police found no blood on him and no clear time of death pinpointed due to high house temperatures.
- During a coroner’s inquest, Curry admitted an affair with a coworker; a 1986 confession by a mental patient was sought but not preserved or produced at trial.
- A Muscogee County grand jury indicted Curry in 2009 on multiple murder and related counts; trial in 2011 resulted in guilty verdicts on remaining charges.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sufficiency of evidence to sustain convictions | Curry | State | Sufficient circ. evidence supports verdicts |
| Pretrial delay and due process prejudice | Curry | State | Delay did not prejudice defense; no due process violation |
| Commentary on right to remain silent | Curry | State | No reversible error; remarks were admissible/appellate review unavailable |
| Admission of evidence about third-party Grable crimes | Curry | State | Exclusion of Grable evidence upheld; not linked to corpus delicti or same crime |
| Jury charge recharge on circumstantial evidence | Curry | State | No plain error; recharge viewed in context as proper guidance |
Key Cases Cited
- Robbins v. State, 269 Ga. 500 (Ga. 1998) (circumstantial-evidence sufficiency standard)
- Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (U.S. 1979) (beyond-reasonable-doubt standard for circumstantial evidence)
- Hilton v. State, 288 Ga. 201 (Ga. 2010) (delays require proof of prejudice and bad faith not shown)
- Manley v. State, 281 Ga. 466 (Ga. 2007) (inherent effects of passage of time in delayed prosecutions)
- Mallory v. State, 261 Ga. 625 (Ga. 1991) (pre-arrest silence commentary and evidentiary limits)
- Reynolds v. State, 285 Ga. 70 (Ga. 2009) (bright-line rule against pre-arrest silence comments)
- Moore v. State, 278 Ga. 397 (Ga. 2004) (Mallory applicability to witness questioning)
- Mutazz v. State, 290 Ga. 389 (Ga. 2012) (admissibility criteria for evidence implicating another person)
- Azizi v. State, 270 Ga. 709 (Ga. 1999) (evidence must directly connect or strongly implicate third party)
- Livingston v. State, 271 Ga. 714 (Ga. 1999) (limits on circumstantial-evidence inference)
- Klinect v. State, 269 Ga. 570 (Ga. 1998) (similarity requirement for third-party-acts evidence)
- Martin v. State, 281 Ga. 778 (Ga. 2007) (preservation of objections and appellate review)
- Guajardo v. State, 290 Ga. 172 (Ga. 2011) (plain-error standard in jury-charge review)
- Malcolm v. State, 263 Ga. 369 (Ga. 1993) (consecutive life-sentence rule for malice murder/felony murder)