Dennard v. State, 305 Ga. 463

In June 2013, Angelo Dennard shot and killed his estranged wife, Diana Cruz‑Sagrero, on the front yard of his mother’s residence while her two children were present; the children and grandmother witnessed or heard the shooting.
Police and witnesses (including the grandmother) identified Dennard as the shooter; Cruz‑Sagrero died within 24 hours from a close‑range gunshot to the face.
A grand jury indicted Dennard (July 2014) on malice murder, felony murder counts, aggravated assault, firearms offenses, and two counts of third‑degree cruelty to children.
A jury convicted Dennard (Aug–Sept 2014) on all counts; he received life for malice murder plus consecutive terms for the firearms and cruelty counts; felony‑murder counts were later vacated and aggravated assault merged.
On appeal Dennard challenged (1) sufficiency of the evidence for the two cruelty‑to‑children convictions and (2) admission of his >10‑year‑old prior felony convictions. The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence for third‑degree cruelty to children (OCGA § 16‑5‑70(d)(2))	State: evidence showed Dennard was primary aggressor, children were present and heard/saw the shooting, and he committed a forcible felony.	Dennard: he did not know the children were present; they were behind him and followed without his knowledge.	Affirmed: viewing evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, a rational juror could find Dennard knew children were present/within sight or hearing when he shot Cruz‑Sagrero.
Admissibility of prior felony convictions older than ten years (OCGA § 24‑6‑609(d))	State: introduced prior convictions as impeachment; probative value justified admissibility or error was harmless given overwhelming evidence.	Dennard: trial court failed to make on‑the‑record balancing that probative value substantially outweighed prejudice, so admission was error requiring new trial.	Affirmed: even if admission was erroneous, any error was harmless because evidence of murder was overwhelming and provocation evidence was weak.

Batten v. State, 295 Ga. 442, 761 S.E.2d 70 (2014) (standard for viewing evidence in light most favorable to the verdict on sufficiency review)
Paslay v. State, 285 Ga. 616, 680 S.E.2d 853 (2009) (upholding third‑degree cruelty conviction where shooting occurred in presence of children)
Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979) (standard for sufficiency of evidence to sustain a conviction)
Stroud v. State, 301 Ga. 807, 804 S.E.2d 418 (2017) (harmless‑error test for nonconstitutional error: whether it is highly probable error did not contribute to verdict)
Perez v. State, 303 Ga. 188, 811 S.E.2d 331 (2018) (erroneous admission can be harmless where evidence of murder is overwhelming)