Hatney v. State, 308 Ga. 438

On October 10, 2008, inmate Cornelius Hatney assaulted fellow inmate Etate Essang in a Valdosta State Prison dormitory; Hatney kicked Essang, struck him with a garbage-can lid, tied his hands and feet, wrapped him in a sheet, and dragged him between locations before the attack continued in the day room.
Correctional officers intervened; Essang was hospitalized with severe head trauma and later died from complications of blunt force head injuries.
Hatney made spontaneous statements on video and to officers admitting the beating, saying he acted because Essang was "jacking on [him]" (masturbating/attempted sexual assault) and to deter others and command respect.
A Lowndes County grand jury indicted Hatney for malice murder, felony murder (predicated on aggravated assault), and aggravated assault; a jury acquitted on malice murder but convicted on felony murder and aggravated assault; the trial court merged aggravated assault into the felony-murder conviction and sentenced Hatney to life.
Hatney appealed, arguing the trial court erred by refusing a requested jury instruction on voluntary manslaughter as a lesser offense of malice and felony murder, and that the aggravated-assault sentence was not properly merged.
The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed: it held any error in refusing the manslaughter instruction was harmless and that the written judgment correctly merged the aggravated-assault sentence into the felony-murder sentence.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Hatney)	Defendant's Argument (State)	Held
Whether the trial court erred by refusing to charge voluntary manslaughter as a lesser offense of malice and felony murder	There was slight evidence Essang’s conduct (alleged sexual provocation) created sudden, violent, irresistible passion warranting the manslaughter instruction; omission likely affected verdict	Any provocation was followed by a cooling-off interval and deliberate preparation, so manslaughter was not warranted; even if error, it was harmless	Assumed arguendo slight evidence existed but any error was harmless because evidence strongly showed an intervening cooling-off period and deliberation; conviction affirmed
Whether the aggravated-assault sentence should have been separately imposed rather than merged into felony murder	(Implicit) Sentence for aggravated assault was pronounced at hearing and should not have merged	Written judgment correctly shows aggravated assault merged into felony murder; no separate sentence imposed	No merit to claim; written judgment shows merger and no separate aggravated-assault sentence was imposed

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (legal standard for reviewing sufficiency of the evidence)
Keita v. State, 285 Ga. 767 (Georgia rule requiring manslaughter charge if there is slight evidence of provocation)
Henry v. State, 307 Ga. 140 (harmless-error test for nonconstitutional instructional errors)
Barron v. State, 297 Ga. 706 (holding manslaughter instruction unwarranted where defendant had time to arm and seek victim)
Noel v. State, 297 Ga. 698 (harmless-error analysis where evidence of manslaughter theory was weak)