Sullivan v. State, 308 Ga. 772

On December 10, 2012, Monique Sullivan ran a red light, steered onto an off-ramp and then drove the wrong way on a multi-lane highway for approximately 2.7–2.8 miles at about 75–80 mph with cruise control engaged.
Sullivan’s wrong-way driving forced multiple motorists to swerve; her SUV then collided head-on with a van driven by Amelia Hiltz (who later died) and, after flipping, was struck by vehicles driven by Kevin Mollenhauer and Maureen Floyd, both of whom suffered serious injuries.
Sullivan’s four-year-old son (J.S.) was injured; at the hospital he told a nurse, “Daddy was trying to make Mama stop, but she wouldn’t because they were fussing.”
A Richmond County jury convicted Sullivan of felony murder (predicated on aggravated assault), two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of reckless conduct (lesser included), cruelty to children, and three traffic misdemeanors; she was sentenced to life plus concurrent terms.
On appeal Sullivan challenged (a) sufficiency of evidence as to intent for felony murder and aggravated assaults, (b) the trial court’s refusal to instruct on accident, (c) exclusion of evidence showing she had no history of mental illness, and (d) admission of J.S.’s hospital statement as an excited utterance.

Issue	Sullivan's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence for felony murder and aggravated assaults (intent)	State failed to prove intent; evidence consistent with an accidental wrong-way entry	Evidence authorized finding of intentional conduct: deliberate steering onto wrong ramp, multiple warnings ignored, sustained high speed, cruise control engaged, no braking or evasive action	Evidence sufficient; jury could infer intent and exclude accident hypothesis
Failure to give accident instruction	Trial court erred in refusing requested accident jury charge	Even if authorized, omission harmless because jury was instructed on burden and intent and evidence strongly supported intentional conduct	Court: refusal was error but harmless beyond a reasonable doubt
Exclusion of testimony that Sullivan had no history of mental illness	Evidence that she had no mental-illness history was relevant to disprove intent	Absence-of-mental-illness testimony not probative of state of mind at time of offense and defendant did not assert a mental-health defense	No abuse of discretion in excluding the psychiatrists’ testimony
Admission of J.S.’s hospital statement under excited-utterance exception	Statement was hearsay and unreliable (made hours after crash)	Given child’s age, injuries, and trauma, the statement related to a startling event and was made under stress of excitement	Admission was within trial court’s discretion; statement admissible as excited utterance

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (standard for federal due process sufficiency review)
Patterson v. State, 332 Ga. App. 221 (defendant’s cited authority on intent in wrong‑way driving context)
Hayes v. State, 292 Ga. 506 (deference to jury credibility and weight findings)
Reddick v. State, 301 Ga. 90 (harmless‑error test for omission of a requested instruction)
McClure v. State, 306 Ga. 856 (when defendant must present evidence to support an affirmative defense)
Robbins v. State, 300 Ga. 387 (excited‑utterance rule: totality of circumstances and timing)
McClain v. State, 303 Ga. 6 (omission of accident instruction can be harmless where jury rejects accident by finding intent)
Spence v. State, 307 Ga. 520 (harmlessness where jury was instructed on intent and burden of proof)
Jenkins v. State, 303 Ga. 314 (admission of evidence reviewed for abuse of discretion)