Johnson v. State, 289 Ga. 106

Johnson was convicted of malice murder for shooting Andrew Howard; the trial court sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Co-defendant Williams was convicted of malice murder and obstruction; Williams’s conviction was affirmed on appeal.
Evidence showed Williams confronted the victim over a $10 debt, Johnson participated in the confrontation, and the victim was shot twice in the head.
Johnson admitted to killing somebody to another inmate while in jail; eyewitness and other evidence supported guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
At issue were evidentiary rulings including autopsy photos, a police-interview tape, a lost baseball cap, and jury instructions on prior consistent statements.
The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed the convictions and rejected the grounds raised on appeal.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of the evidence	Johnson argues insufficient proof of malice murder.	State contends evidence showed premeditation/opportunity supporting malice murder.	Evidence supported rational verdict of malice murder.
admissibility of autopsy photographs	Eight head autopsy photos were improperly admitted to inflame the jury.	Photographs were relevant and admissible to prove the cause and manner of death.	Court properly admitted pre-incision autopsy photos; not within Brown v. State restrictive rules.
admission of entire police interview tape	Specific inculpatory statements should be excluded as prior inconsistent statements unless properly admitted.	Prior inconsistent statements can be admitted even if witness later disputes truth; no denial requirement.	Admission of the full tape was proper; no denial requirement.
loss of the baseball cap evidence	Destruction of the cap deprived defense of testing (hair fiber/DNA/gunshot residue).	Cap lacked apparent exculpatory value; no bad faith; testing speculative.	No due process violation; cap not constitutionally material; no bad faith shown.
jury instruction on prior consistent statements	Court gave instruction on prior consistent statements despite no such evidence admitted.	Instruction was harmless; it merely stated a legal principle about evidence	No reversible error; instruction properly framed and not misleading.

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (U.S. 1979) (sufficiency standard for evidence in criminal conviction)
Stewart v. State, 286 Ga. 669 (2010) (admissibility discretion for photographic evidence)
Stinski v. State, 281 Ga. 783 (2007) (photographs admissible when relevant to testimony)
Banks v. State, 281 Ga. 678 (2007) (pre-incision autopsy photos admissible; relevance)
Roberts v. State, 282 Ga. 548 (2007) (autopsy photo evidence and admissibility considerations)
Brown v. State, 250 Ga. 862 (1983) (limits on admissibility of post-mmortem procedures)
Williams v. State, 265 Ga. 681 (1995) (use of probes in photographs to illustrate wound paths)
Krause v. State, 286 Ga. 745 (2010) (materiality and destruction of evidence analysis)
Mizell v. State, 288 Ga. 474 (2010) (apparent exculpatory value required for due process claim)
Miller v. State, 287 Ga. 748 (2010) (due process and destruction of potentially useful evidence)
Davis v. State, 285 Ga. 343 (2009) (evidence preservation and due process standards)
Champion v. State, 260 Ga. App. 12 (2003) (preservation and inspection of evidence considerations)