Slaton v. State, 296 Ga. 122

Slaton and five co-indictees were indicted for malice murder, felony murder (aggravated assault), multiple aggravated assaults, and possession of a firearm during a felony; Slaton’s case was severed and he was convicted on all counts except malice murder and possession.
The group involved was called the Ho Haters; on January 28–29, 2011, events at a DeKalb County apartment complex led to a fatal shooting of Marcus Holloway and injuries to others.
Slaton hid during the confrontation; after tires were slashed, he advised co-indictee Willis to come pick him up with knowledge that guns were involved and that someone might shoot at them.
Co-indictees drove to the complex with guns; shots were fired; Holloway was killed and others fled; O’Neal fled and a gunlinked to the shootings was recovered from Willis’s possession and another from Willis’s girlfriend’s apartment.
Slaton’s fingerprints were not found on the firearms; ballistics tied the weapons to the shooting; Slaton did not disassociate himself from the others after the incident.
The jury correctly instructed on the law of party to a crime; the evidence could reasonably support a finding that Slaton advised, encouraged, or counseled the others to come “with guns blazing,” making him a party to the crimes.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence as a party to the crime	Slaton argues no direct crime by him and no evidence of party liability excluding other hypotheses.	State contends conduct before/during/after shows shared criminal intent and adoption of the plan.	Evidence sufficient to convict as party to the crimes.
Weight of the evidence in a new-trial context	Slaton contends the verdict is against the weight of the evidence and warrants a new trial.	State argues trial court discretion governs weight grounds; no remand required here.	Trial court did not err; appellate cannot grant new trial on weight grounds.

Brown v. State, 291 Ga. 887 (Ga. 2012) (shared criminal intent may be inferred from conduct before, during, and after the crime)
Eckman v. State, 274 Ga. 63 (Ga. 2001) (proof of shared intent may be inferred from surrounding conduct)
Flowers v. State, 275 Ga. 592 (Ga. 2002) (review of evidentiary conflicts on appeal)
Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (U.S. 1979) (standard for evaluating sufficiency of circumstantial evidence)
Reeves v. State, 294 Ga. 673 (Ga. 2014) (evidence viewed in light most favorable to verdict; sufficiency standard)
Smith v. State, 292 Ga. 316 (Ga. 2013) (general grounds and sufficiency standards in new-trial context)
Walker v. State, 292 Ga. 262 (Ga. 2013) (remand authority and procedural handling of new-trial issues)
Strapp v. State, 326 Ga. App. 264 (Ga. Ct. App. 2014) (induced error considerations in new-trial context)
Lowe v. State, Ga. (Ga. 2014) (circumstantial-evidence standard; exclude other reasonable hypotheses)
Brown v. State, 291 Ga. 887 (Ga. 2012) (shared criminal intent inferred from conduct surrounding the crime)