Shubert v. State, 306 Ga. 490

Brent James Shubert was indicted by a Franklin County grand jury in March 2013 for malice murder, felony murder (aggravated assault), and concealing the death of Bonny Cooner; the State initially sought the death penalty but later withdrew it.
Evidence at trial: Shubert strangled Cooner in his auto shop, forced an eyewitness (Denard Canady) into a truck, and dumped Cooner’s body in a well; physical evidence (hair, blood, blanket) and autopsy showed death by strangulation.
After arrest, Shubert made admissions to inmates and offered money to kill Canady.
Shubert waived a jury trial; following a bench trial he was convicted of malice murder (life without parole) and concealing the death (10 years concurrent); felony murder was vacated by operation of law.
He moved to quash the indictment arguing the grand jury venire violated the Sixth Amendment fair-cross-section requirement because of duplicate names and alleged racial disparity; the trial court denied the motion and later denied his amended motion for new trial.
On appeal Shubert challenged only the grand jury composition; the Court also independently found the evidence sufficient though Shubert did not contest sufficiency.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Grand jury fair‑cross‑section under the Sixth Amendment	Shubert: duplicated names on the grand jury list produced disproportionate overrepresentation of white jurors, violating Duren criteria	State: the record does not establish the racial composition of the master list; insufficient proof of underrepresentation or systematic exclusion	Court held Shubert failed to make a prima facie fair‑cross‑section claim because race was identified for only 29% of the master list, preventing proof of disparity or systematic exclusion
Sufficiency of the evidence (preserved by Court review)	Shubert did not challenge sufficiency	State: evidence established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt	Court independently found the evidence legally sufficient to support the convictions (Jackson standard)

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (legal sufficiency standard)
Duren v. Missouri, 439 U.S. 357 (fair‑cross‑section three‑prong test)
Ramirez v. State, 276 Ga. 158 (burden on defendant to show prima facie jury‑pool error)
Morrow v. State, 272 Ga. 691 (defendant’s burden to prove constitutional error in jury pool)
Malcolm v. State, 263 Ga. 369 (merger/vacatur principle cited for felony‑murder count)