O'Connell v. State, 297 Ga. 410

Victim, Muriel O’Connell, adopted Catherine and Brenda O’Connell from a Guatemalan orphanage; relationships deteriorated and the daughters developed behavioral problems.
On August 6, 2006, the victim was found dead in her bathroom; she sustained multiple head injuries and died from prolonged strangulation.
Catherine and Brenda (appellant) told police the victim attacked Brenda with a knife and Catherine grabbed the victim’s neck to pull her off Brenda; medical examiners found no injuries on the daughters consistent with their story.
Brenda initially denied staging the scene but later admitted she placed a knife in the victim’s hand after the victim was dead.
A jury convicted both sisters of malice murder, felony murder, and aggravated assault; Brenda was sentenced to life for malice murder; felony murder was vacated by operation of law and aggravated assault merged with malice murder.
On appeal Brenda challenged (1) the denial of a Batson challenge, (2) exclusion of traumatic childhood evidence, and (3) the trial court’s refusal to charge felony involuntary manslaughter based on misdemeanor battery/reckless conduct.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Denial of Batson challenge to prosecutor's strike of juror Shealise Weaver	O’Connell: strike was racially motivated, so Batson violation	State: strike proper; trial court correctly rejected Batson challenge	Affirmed: no Batson error (same reasoning as co-defendant’s appeal)
Exclusion of traumatic childhood evidence from Guatemala	O’Connell: evidence was relevant to motive, state of mind, mitigation	State: evidence properly excluded under trial rulings	Affirmed: exclusion proper (same reasoning as co-defendant’s appeal)
Failure to charge felony involuntary manslaughter (unlawful-act theory) based on battery	O’Connell: testimony supported misdemeanor battery/reckless conduct, so jury should have been instructed on involuntary manslaughter	State: evidence showed malice murder, not an unintentional death; charge unnecessary	If error, harmless: overwhelming evidence inconsistent with an accidental killing; conviction affirmed
Preservation/plain-error on failure to request involuntary manslaughter instruction for reckless conduct	O’Connell: contends charge should have been given despite lack of written/oral request	State: issue not preserved; alternatively, any error was harmless	Even assuming lack of preservation, plain-error review finds no reversible error; outcome would not likely change

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (sufficiency of the evidence standard; review in light most favorable to the verdict)
Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (prohibits race-based peremptory strikes)
Rogers v. State, 289 Ga. 675 (2011) (trial court must give a requested lesser-included offense charge when any evidence supports it)
O’Connell v. State, 294 Ga. 379 (prior companion opinion addressing same issues for co-defendant)
Allen v. State, 290 Ga. 743 (plain-error doctrine review in criminal cases)
State v. Kelly, 290 Ga. 29 (plain-error standard application)