Johnson v. State, 302 Ga. 774

Background

On Aug. 16–17, 2014, Robert Cannon was shot and killed after an altercation involving Joshua Lee, Jonathan Johnson, and Marquis Scott; Lee and Johnson were tried for malice murder (Scott pleaded to conspiracy and testified for the State).
Evidence placed all three at the scene: shell casings/ballistics matched a 9mm rifle and magazine clip recovered from Moore’s house; fingerprints and shoeprints connected defendants to the vehicles and locations; Cannon and his wife Walker identified Lee at the scene.
Johnson was convicted of malice murder and possession of marijuana; Lee was convicted of malice murder and family violence battery; both received life sentences for murder.
Post-trial, appellants challenged (1) Batson jury-selection strikes as racially discriminatory, (2) sufficiency of the evidence (Lee), (3) denial of two mistrial motions (Lee), (4) venue (Lee), and (5) several jury instructions (Lee).
The trial court denied new-trial motions after an evidentiary hearing; the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed, finding no reversible error.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Batson challenge to prosecutor’s peremptory strikes	Johnson & Lee: strikes disproportionately removed black jurors and some stated prosecutor reasons were factually incorrect, indicating pretext	State: proffered race-neutral reasons (family or close ties to persons with arrests/negative law‑enforcement experiences) and applied criteria to white jurors too; relied on pretrial checks and law‑enforcement input	Court: affirmed trial court — race-neutral reasons offered; credibility/responsibility findings not clearly erroneous; post‑trial hearing cured any procedural omission at trial
Sufficiency of evidence for malice murder (Lee and Johnson)	Lee: evidence insufficient to prove he was the shooter beyond a reasonable doubt	State: ballistic, fingerprint, shoeprint, eyewitness ID, and flight/hiding conduct support either shot or participation as party to crime	Court: evidence sufficient to convict both as either principal shooter or party to crime under OCGA §16‑2‑20; Jackson standard satisfied
Motions for mistrial (publicity; officer’s testimony)	Lee: media coverage warranted mistrial; later, officer’s testimony improperly implied Lee’s prior violent conduct and put character/evidence before jury	State: jurors denied exposure to media; prior bad‑acts testimony was cumulative to other testimony and not so prejudicial to require mistrial	Court: denied both motions — court voir‑dired jurors on media exposure (no juror affected); officer’s stray comment harmless given prior testimony and strong evidence
Venue proof	Lee: State failed to prove venue beyond reasonable doubt	State: multiple witnesses located scene/identified as in Decatur County and officers from Decatur Co. worked the case	Court: evidence sufficient for jury to find crime occurred in Decatur County
Jury instructions (alibi attribution; voluntary manslaughter wording; aggravated assault definition)	Lee: misstatements/misdefinitions could mislead jury	State: errors were slips, corrected, or harmless in context; aggravated assault instruction corrected and merged into murder conviction	Court: errors were harmless — no reversible error; instructions corrected or cured and did not prejudice defendants

Key Cases Cited

Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (prohibits race‑based peremptory strikes)
Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (sufficiency-of-evidence standard)
Hernandez v. New York, 500 U.S. 352 (once race‑neutral reasons offered, prima facie step becomes moot)
Snyder v. Louisiana, 552 U.S. 472 (trial court’s role in evaluating prosecutor credibility in Batson review)
Coleman v. State, 301 Ga. 720 (describes Batson three‑step framework under Georgia law)
Woodall v. State, 294 Ga. 624 (deference to trial court Batson credibility findings)
Alexander v. State, 273 Ga. 311 (family members’ criminal history is race‑neutral reason for strike)