Finley v. State, 298 Ga. 451

On May 11, 2010 Javarus Dupree was shot and later died; James Jordan fired the fatal shot; Brandon Taylor was an accomplice. A cell phone and call records linked Dupree and four men: Henry “Trey” Finley, Jordan, Taylor, and Christopher Cushenberry.
Finley and Cushenberry had spent money partying the night before and were reported to be planning robberies to get more money; Dupree was identified as a target and Finley arranged a meet-call with him.
Finley drove Jordan’s Cadillac to a meet point, waited with Cushenberry while Jordan and Taylor entered Dupree’s car, a shot was heard, Jordan and Taylor rejoined Finley and Cushenberry and they left together; Dupree died the next day.
Finley and Taylor were tried jointly in 2012; jury convicted Finley of felony murder and conspiracy to commit armed robbery; sentence: life for felony murder plus consecutive 10 years for conspiracy.
On appeal, Finley argued (1) admission of gang-related evidence was improper and (2) his custodial statement was inadmissible because it was induced by a promise of benefit; the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Admissibility of gang-evidence	Finley: gang evidence improperly prejudiced jury and impermissibly placed character at issue	State: gang evidence was relevant to affiliation, motive, and explanation of roles among co-defendants	Court: admissible — relevant to affiliation and motive; trial court acted within discretion
Admissibility of custodial statement	Finley: detective’s remark promising quickest way to see his children amounted to promise of reduced punishment, so confession was induced and inadmissible	State: remark did not promise reduced criminal punishment; totality of circumstances show statement voluntary	Court: admissible — remark not a promise of reduced sentence; record supports voluntariness

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (establishes standard for sufficiency of evidence review)
Powell v. State, 291 Ga. 743 (defendant may be convicted as party to crime without directly committing it)
Mallory v. State, 271 Ga. 150 (gang involvement admissible to show motive)
Willoughby v. State, 280 Ga. 176 (trial court discretion in admitting evidence of gang affiliation)
Brown v. State, 290 Ga. 865 ("slightest hope of benefit" refers to promises of reduced criminal punishment)
Vergara v. State, 283 Ga. 175 (trial court determines voluntariness under totality of circumstances)
Malcolm v. State, 263 Ga. 369 (merger principles for sentencing counts)
Dean v. State, 273 Ga. 806 (additional sentencing/merger guidance)