Ellison v. State, 313 Ga. 107

On May 16, 2014, Emanuel Ellison shot and killed Kentrealvist Malcom at an apartment complex; police later charged Ellison with malice murder, two counts of felony murder, aggravated assault, felon-in-possession, two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and tampering with evidence.
Ellison filed a pretrial motion for immunity under OCGA § 16-3-24.2 (justification/self-defense); an evidentiary hearing was held in September 2017 and the trial court denied the motion orally.
At the immunity hearing Ellison testified he shot because Malcom pulled a gun and threatened his family; defense presented little independent eyewitness corroboration and introduced Ellison’s Facebook posts and a detective’s testimony about Malcom’s gang activity.
State witnesses largely contradicted Ellison’s account: two said they did not see Malcom with a gun, and a third saw Malcom with a gun only after the shot and heard him call for it.
The trial court alternatively denied immunity on two bases: (1) statutory preclusion because Ellison was a felon in possession of a firearm, and (2) Ellison failed to prove justification by a preponderance, in part due to adverse credibility findings (prior felony and admitted lies to police).
A jury later convicted Ellison of felony murder and other counts; Ellison appealed claiming the trial court erred in denying pretrial immunity. The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed, relying on the adverse credibility determination.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Ellison proved entitlement to pretrial immunity under OCGA § 16-3-24.2 (self-defense)	Ellison: he shot because Malcom pulled a gun and threatened his family; he met the preponderance standard	State: eyewitnesses contradicted Ellison; Facebook posts and admissions undermined self-defense claim	Denied — court affirmed: credibility finding and contradictory evidence supported denial of immunity
Whether the 2014 amendment to OCGA § 16-3-24.2 (removing felon-in-possession exclusion) applied to Ellison	Ellison: amendment applied because it was effective before his immunity hearing	State: agreed the amendment applied; trial court had relied on pre-amendment exclusion	Court did not decide the issue because it affirmed on the alternative ground that Ellison failed to prove justification

Sifuentes v. State, 293 Ga. 441 (2013) (standard and scope of review for pretrial immunity hearings)
Johnson v. State, 308 Ga. 141 (2020) (discussion of 2014 amendment to immunity statute)
Holmes v. State, 311 Ga. 698 (2021) (credibility undermined by defendant’s lies to police)
Hughes v. State, 312 Ga. 149 (2021) (court may deny immunity where testimony is not credited and other evidence permits inference of non-justification)
Hornbuckle v. State, 300 Ga. 750 (2017) (trial court may infer aggression rather than self-defense where evidence contradicts defendant’s account)