Norris v. State, 309 Ga. 11

In 1996 Melissa Norris (age 15 at the time) was indicted for malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony for the December 20, 1995 shooting death of her father.
Evidence at retrial: Norris took a .38-caliber handgun, approached her father, pointed the gun at the back of his head, and the gun discharged; the wound was a contact wound and the recovered bullet matched the recovered handgun.
After the shooting Norris fled, had her brother dispose of the gun, admitted to friends and later to the police that she shot her father, and wrote a letter taking “full responsibility.” She testified she did not know whether the gun was loaded and claimed the shooting was an accident.
Norris previously was convicted following a 1997 trial; habeas relief was partially granted and reversed on appeal, leading to the 2017 retrial at which she was again convicted and sentenced to life plus five years.
At the 2017 retrial Norris requested a jury charge on mistake of fact (OCGA § 16-3-5) based on her claim she did not know the gun was loaded; the trial court refused to give that instruction. Norris did not object to the refusal at the time the court declined the charge or at the end of the final charge.
The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed, reviewing sufficiency of the evidence and the refused instruction under the plain-error standard and concluding the refusal did not constitute reversible error.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of the evidence to support convictions	Norris contends shooting was accidental; but did not expressly enumerate sufficiency on appeal	State: eyewitness statements, confession, ballistics, conduct after shooting support conviction	Court (sua sponte) found evidence sufficient to allow a rational jury to reject accident and convict under Jackson v. Virginia standard
Trial court refusal to charge jury on mistake of fact	Norris: requested instruction because she testified she did not know the gun was loaded; argued mistake of fact could negate culpability even if conduct otherwise unlawful	State: court properly refused; even if error, Norris waived objection and cannot show plain error given overwhelming evidence	Court: No plain error. Charge refusal not "clear and obvious" error and, given strong evidence, did not likely affect outcome; judgment affirmed

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (establishes standard for review of sufficiency of the evidence)
Kelly v. State, 290 Ga. 29 (plain-error review for jury charge refusals)
Woodard v. State, 296 Ga. 803 (plain-error factors for instructional error)
Westbrook v. State, 308 Ga. 92 (no plain error where defendant’s legal argument was not controlled by authority)
Simmons v. State, 299 Ga. 370 (error not plain where no controlling authority on point)
Hampton v. State, 302 Ga. 166 (failure to give charge not reversible where evidence strongly supports conviction)
Davis v. State, 302 Ga. 576 (same principle regarding refusal to give requested charge)
Newman, 305 Ga. 792 (sufficiency review authority cited by court)