Miller v. State, 302 Ga. 118

Michael York Miller was indicted in 2012 for malice murder, felony murder (predicated on felon-in-possession), possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and two counts of threatening a witness for the 1999 killing of Shawnita Nicole Campbell; trial occurred in 2014 and Miller was convicted on all counts.
Witnesses Angela Lyles and Tuiquana Dowdell (located in 2010) placed Miller with the victim near the scene, heard a gunshot, and described Miller as armed and threatening; forensic evidence linked the murder weapon’s manufacturer and caliber to a gun Miller had used previously.
The jury returned guilty verdicts; at Miller’s request the court polled jurors individually, but inadvertently omitted polling one juror.
Miller failed to raise a statute-of-limitations defense at trial for the firearm-possession and witness-threatening counts.
The trial court denied Miller’s motion for new trial and sentenced him (later resentenced as noted in the opinion); the Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Miller)	Defendant's Argument (State)	Held
Sufficiency of the evidence to support convictions	Not disputed (but raised independent review)	Evidence (witness testimony, prior conviction, forensic match) supports convictions	Evidence was sufficient under Jackson v. Virginia; convictions upheld
Incomplete jury poll (one juror not polled)	Failure to poll all jurors requires reversal because poll implied non-unanimity (relied on Benefield)	Omission was inadvertent, no juror indicated a negative vote, and no contemporaneous objection; Benefield is distinguishable	No reversible error; omission without indication of non-unanimity does not require reversal
Statute of limitations for firearm-possession and threatening counts	Prosecution barred by statute of limitations	Miller did not raise the defense at trial; issue not ruled on below so not preserved	Issue not preserved for appeal; claim forfeited

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (standard for sufficiency of the evidence)
Benefield v. State, 278 Ga. 464 (juror poll revealing a no vote requires action)
Hunter v. State, 177 Ga. App. 326 (omitted juror during polling not reversible where no objection)
Humphrey v. State, 299 Ga. 197 (preservation requirement for statute-of-limitations defense)
Tucker v. State, 252 Ga. 263 (errors in jury polling waived if not objected to)
Malcolm v. State, 263 Ga. 369 (vacatur of felony-murder conviction by operation of law)