Freeman v. State, 295 Ga. 820

Freeman and two others went to a motel to buy drugs; a confrontation with Moore ensued and multiple gunshots were fired; Moore died and .38-caliber bullets were recovered from his body.
Freeman fired a .38 revolver several times, was shot twice, taken to hospital, and later gave three oral statements to police (hospital, sheriff’s office, and two days later).
Only the third statement was given after Miranda warnings; the trial court admitted the first two statements after a Jackson v. Denno hearing.
At trial the judge, in the jury’s presence, stated the second statement was “freely and voluntarily given,” prompting an appeal under OCGA § 17-8-57 (judicial comments on guilt or evidence).
Freeman was convicted of malice murder and possession of a firearm during a crime; he argued Miranda/custody errors, and ineffective assistance for counsel’s handling of a hospital interview form.
The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed and ordered a new trial based primarily on the trial judge’s on-the-record comment to the jury about voluntariness.

Issue	Freeman's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Admissibility of first two statements — custody/Miranda	Statements were made while in custody and without Miranda, so inadmissible	Freeman was not in custody (hospital/interview room); statements were voluntary	Trial court correctly found at Jackson v. Denno hearing that Freeman was not in custody and statements were voluntary; admissible
Trial court comment on voluntariness before jury (OCGA § 17-8-57)	Judge’s statement that a statement was "freely and voluntarily given" in jury’s presence violated statute and requires reversal	Comment was part of a bench colloquy/evidentiary ruling and harmless; not improper	Comment violated OCGA § 17-8-57; super-plain-error review permits appellate reversal without contemporaneous objection; new trial required
Ineffective assistance — counsel did not introduce interview form at Jackson v. Denno hearing	Counsel erred by not introducing form showing Freeman labeled a “suspect,” which would have supported suppression	Strategic decision to use form at trial to impeach officers; mere designation as suspect does not control custody inquiry	Counsel’s choice was strategic and reasonable; no deficient performance shown; ineffective assistance claim denied
Other enumerations of error on appeal	Various trial errors asserted	State argued many errors likely harmless or unlikely to recur	Court declined to address remaining claims because reversal on comment requires retrial; those errors unlikely to recur

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (establishes sufficiency-of-evidence standard)
Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (requires warnings where custodial interrogation exists)
Jackson v. Denno, 378 U.S. 368 (procedure for determining voluntariness of confessions)
Chumley v. State, 282 Ga. 855 (trial court may not rule to jury on voluntariness; violates OCGA § 17-8-57)
Wells v. State, 295 Ga. 161 (OCGA § 17-8-57 errors subject to super-plain-error review)
Durden v. State, 293 Ga. 89 (custody standard and voluntariness analysis)
McAllister v. State, 270 Ga. 224 (police suspicions do not alone create custody for Miranda purposes)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (ineffective assistance standard)