Reed v. State, 304 Ga. 400

Background

In February 2011 Philmore Reed, Jr. (in his 70s) lived on property subject to a civil dispute over ownership; the purported owner hired tow operators to remove vehicles.
Tow operators Travis Fenty and James Donegan returned to tow cars; Reed went to the roof with a shotgun and, after being asked to come down, fired two shots; Fenty was struck and died; Reed surrendered and gave a post-Miranda confession.
Reed was indicted for malice murder, felony murder (aggravated assault), aggravated assaults, and possession of a firearm during a felony; jury found him guilty of malice murder and other counts, acquitted on voluntary manslaughter and one aggravated-assault count; sentence: life for malice murder plus five years for firearm possession (consecutive).
On appeal Reed argued (1) plain error in the trial court’s refusal to instruct on the no-duty-to-retreat principle and on a general ‘‘no duty to retreat’’ justification instruction, and (2) plain error in refusing instructions on criminal negligence and involuntary manslaughter as lesser-included offenses.
The Georgia Supreme Court reviewed sufficiency of the evidence (Jackson standard) and reviewed the denied instructions under the plain-error test (error obvious, not waived, and likely affecting outcome).

Issues

Issue	Reed's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Failure to instruct jury on no duty to retreat	The jury should have been told a non‑aggressor defending habitation has no duty to retreat and may stand ground (so charge incomplete).	Charge on defense of habitation and general justification law adequately covered the defense; no additional retreat instruction was necessary.	No plain error: given charge fairly presented defense; Reed failed to show the omission likely affected the outcome.
Failure to give general justification / sole-theory instruction	Court must fully charge a defendant’s sole theory of defense when some evidence supports it (Price).	The trial court charged justification and habitation-specific rules sufficiently; additional instruction unnecessary.	No plain error: instructions adequately covered Reed’s defense.
Refusal to charge involuntary manslaughter and criminal negligence (lesser-included)	Reed testified he fired at the truck, not the man; jury could find criminal negligence or involuntary manslaughter rather than malice murder.	Evidence supported malice and aggravated assault; court reasonably concluded evidence did not support lesser charges; omission did not likely affect outcome.	No plain error: Reed failed to show the omitted instructions probably affected the verdict.
Sufficiency of the evidence (court review)	N/A — Reed did not contest sufficiency, but review required in murder cases.	Evidence supported malice, intent to shoot, and aggravated assault; confession and eyewitness testimony corroborated.	Evidence sufficient under Jackson v. Virginia to support convictions.

Key Cases Cited

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (standard for sufficiency of the evidence review)
Price v. State, 289 Ga. 459 (trial court must fully charge a sole theory of defense when supported by some evidence)
Willis v. State, 304 Ga. 122 (plain-error test applied to jury-charge claims)
State v. Kelly, 290 Ga. 29 (plain-error instructional standard and burden on appellant)
Shaw v. State, 292 Ga. 871 (failure to give no-duty-to-retreat instruction assessed against adequacy of overall charge)
Ballard v. State, 297 Ga. 248 (adequacy of habitation/justification instructions can make retreat instruction unnecessary)