Graham v. State, 301 Ga. 675

On July 9, 2012, DeSean Lamar Graham and Carlos Daniels had an argument at the apartment complex pool; Graham threatened to shoot Daniels.
Graham left, went to his apartment complex, ran on foot for ~25 minutes, and Daniels was subsequently shot and killed in the Jasmine parking lot.
Graham’s girlfriend later testified Graham returned out of breath, vomited, and confessed he shot Daniels for disrespecting his family, described firing after Daniels fell, and said he ran through a wooded trail between complexes.
An eyewitness testified the shooter fired again after Daniels fell and then ran toward the wooded trail; two other witnesses corroborated the shooter ran toward that trail.
Police located Graham after the girlfriend reported his confession; Graham admitted the pool altercation but denied returning to shoot Daniels.
Graham was convicted of malice murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony; he appealed arguing insufficient evidence and that the trial court erred by refusing to charge voluntary manslaughter.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence for murder conviction	State: confession plus eyewitness corroboration and girlfriend’s testimony suffice	Graham: confession alone is insufficient; no physical evidence or eyewitness ID; girlfriend not credible	Affirmed — evidence (confession corroborated by eyewitness testimony and other circumstantial evidence) was sufficient under Jackson v. Virginia standard
Whether trial court should have charged voluntary manslaughter as a lesser included offense	Graham: provocation at pool (argument, fear of being hit/pushed) warranted a manslaughter charge	State: provocation was not legally sufficient to excite irresistible passion in a reasonable person	Affirmed — objectively unreasonable to go get a gun and return; no legally sufficient provocation, so no manslaughter charge required

McMullen v. State, 300 Ga. 173 (corroboration of confession need not follow a specific manner)
Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (standard for sufficiency of the evidence review)
Merritt v. State, 292 Ga. 327 (jury resolves witness credibility and conflicts in evidence)
Johnson v. State, 296 Ga. 504 (State not required to produce physical evidence)
Campbell v. State, 292 Ga. 766 (court decides as a matter of law whether provocation evidence suffices for manslaughter charge)
Lewandowski v. State, 267 Ga. 831 (OCGA § 16-5-2 uses objective standard for provocation)
Malcolm v. State, 263 Ga. 369 (merger principles and effect on verdicts)