Edvalson v. State, 310 Ga. 7

Thomas Edvalson operated a child-pornography website (Cruels.net); forensic examiners recovered hundreds of digital images from devices at his Gwinnett County residence.
He was charged with 22 counts under OCGA § 16-12-100 for 11 digital images: each image yielded one count for simple possession (b)(8) and one count for possession with intent to distribute (b)(5).
At sentencing the trial court merged the simple-possession counts into the intent-to-distribute counts and sentenced Edvalson on 11 remaining (b)(5) counts (aggregate 60 years; 19 to serve).
The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding paragraph (b)(5) permits separate convictions for each image.
The Georgia Supreme Court granted certiorari to decide the unit of prosecution under OCGA § 16-12-100(b)(5) and whether simultaneous possession of multiple images yields multiple convictions.
Applying statutory-construction principles from Coates, the Court held that “any visual medium” must be read in context of the statute’s definition of “visual medium” and permits only one conviction for simultaneous possession of multiple items of visual media; it reversed and remanded to vacate the 11 (b)(5) convictions. The Court limited its holding to simultaneous possession and did not decide separate time/place or retroactivity issues.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Unit of prosecution under OCGA § 16-12-100(b)(5): whether simultaneous possession of multiple images permits multiple convictions	Edvalson: single course of conduct (possession of the visual medium(s)) yields one prosecution/conviction; merger required	State (and Court of Appeals): each image counts as a separate "visual medium," permitting separate convictions for each image	The Court held (following Coates) that "any visual medium"—read with the statutory definition—refers to the possession of a visual medium as the unit; simultaneous possession of multiple images contained in a single visual medium supports only one conviction under (b)(5); reversed and remanded to vacate the multiple (b)(5) convictions

Coates v. State, 304 Ga. 329 (2018) (statutory-construction analysis identifying unit of prosecution for possession statute; held single conviction for simultaneous possession of multiple firearms)
Williams v. State, 307 Ga. 778 (2020) (held unit-of-prosecution challenge was premature in that case; cautioned Court of Appeals against deciding the issue there)
State v. Williams, 347 Ga. App. 183 (2018) (Court of Appeals decision addressing unit-of-prosecution under a different paragraph of OCGA § 16-12-100 relied on by the Court of Appeals below)