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 a felony, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and two counts of threatening a witness for the 1999 shooting death of Shawnita Campbell.
Trial in May 2014 resulted in convictions on all counts; felony murder later vacated by operation of law and one felon-in-possession and one witness-threat count dead-docketed. Sentence ultimately set to life with parole eligibility for murder plus a consecutive five-year term for possession during a felony.
Key eyewitnesses (located in 2010) testified that Miller argued with Campbell, was seen with a small black bag he used to carry a .25 caliber pistol, and that a gunshot was heard from Campbell’s car; forensics matched the gun caliber/manufacturer to a prior offense by Miller.
Miller conceded the evidence was sufficient but appealed, raising: (1) error in the jury poll (one juror inadvertently not polled) and (2) statute-of-limitations bar to certain non-murder counts.
Trial court denied Miller’s motion for new trial; appeal docketed to this Court for decision and the Court affirmed the convictions.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Miller)	Defendant's Argument (State)	Held
Sufficiency of evidence	Evidence insufficient to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt	Evidence supported convictions; forensic and eyewitness links to Miller	Affirmed: evidence sufficient (court independently reviewed under Jackson v. Virginia)
Incomplete jury poll	Failure to poll one juror without corrective action requires reversal (relying on Benefield)	No juror ever indicated a non-unanimous verdict; omission was inadvertent and harmless	No reversible error: omission alone, without any indication of a non-unanimous verdict, does not require reversal
Preservation / plain-error review of poll issue	Plain-error review should apply despite no contemporaneous objection	Polling errors are waived if not timely objected to; plain-error doctrine inapplicable here	Waived: plain-error review does not apply; defendant’s failure to object forfeited claim
Statute of limitations for firearm-possession and witness-threat counts	Prosecution barred by statute of limitations on specified counts	Defendant did not raise the defense at trial; issue not preserved for appeal	Not preserved: appellate court declined to address statute-of-limitations claim

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (legal sufficiency standard for evidence reviewed independently)
Benefield v. State, 278 Ga. 464 (jury poll where a juror answered no requires sending jury back)
Hunter v. State, 177 Ga. App. 326 (omission of one juror in poll held non-reversible where no objection)
Humphrey v. State, 299 Ga. 197 (preservation rule for raising statute-of-limitations defenses)
Williams v. State, 291 Ga. 501 (limits on plain-error review)
Tucker v. State, 252 Ga. 263 (failure to object to polling error waives review)
Malcolm v. State, 263 Ga. 369 (operation-of-law vacatur of felony-murder conviction)