STROZIER v. THE STATE (Two Cases), 306 Ga. 169

Johnathan Anthony and Jekari Strozier were convicted by a jury of multiple offenses, including several felony-murder counts; this Court reviewed the convictions on direct appeal.
In Anthony v. State, the Supreme Court affirmed only the felony-murder conviction based on unlawful participation in criminal gang activity by simple battery (Count 4) and held other convictions were merged, vacated by operation of law, or reversed (including aggravated battery/assault predicates and affray).
The Supreme Court did not remand for resentencing; it returned the remittiturs to the trial court, leaving the affirmed Count 4 sentence in effect.
Upon receipt of the remittiturs, the trial court—at the prosecutor’s urging—entered amended sentences imposing life for a felony-murder count and 15 years for gang-related aggravated battery that this Court had previously vacated or merged.
The appellants and the State conceded the trial court’s resentencing orders conflicted with the law-of-the-case holdings from Anthony.
The Supreme Court held the trial court’s amended sentencing orders were nullities under Georgia’s law-of-the-case rule; the original affirmed sentence on Count 4 remained in effect.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the trial court could enter amended sentences after this Court’s opinion affirmed only Count 4	Strozier/Anthony: trial court lacked authority to resentence on counts this Court vacated or merged	State: trial court attempted to effectuate sentencing consistent with procedural posture (urged resentencing)	Held: trial court’s amended sentencing orders were nullities; law-of-the-case bars revising Court’s holdings
Whether convictions for aggravated assault/battery and related gang counts merged into the simple-battery predicate supporting Count 4	Appellants: those aggravated counts merged and were vacated	State: initially sought resentencing on vacated counts	Held: this Court previously held aggravated counts merged into Count 10, which merged into Count 4; they cannot be reinstated
Whether any other counts remained valid requiring resentencing	Appellants: only Count 4 survived; no remand for resentencing necessary	State: argued for amended sentences on other counts	Held: only the affirmed Count 4 sentence remains effective; amended orders attempting to sentence other counts are invalid
Whether remittitur return authorized trial court to alter sentencing orders	Appellants: remittiturs simply returned the case; no authority to alter holdings	State: remedial action urged by prosecutor	Held: returning remittiturs does not permit trial court to contravene Supreme Court holdings; amended sentences void

Anthony v. State, 303 Ga. 399 (affirming only the Count 4 felony-murder conviction; other counts merged, vacated, or reversed)
McDonald v. State, 305 Ga. 5 (Georgia law-of-the-case rule applies to Supreme Court holdings in criminal cases)
Roulain v. Martin, 266 Ga. 353 (application of law-of-the-case in criminal proceedings)
Hollmon v. State, 305 Ga. 90 (trial court lacked authority to resentence on convictions previously vacated by operation of law)