White v. State, 307 Ga. 601

Background

On October 15, 2016, 18‑year‑old Samuel Poss was killed. Seventeen‑year‑old Dakota Lamar White and Brandon Warren were later charged in Poss’s death.
Police arrested White at his home (without a warrant) after family members provided information implicating him; at the station White waived Miranda, confessed, and led officers to the body.
White was tried separately in May 2018, convicted of malice murder and related offenses, and after a two‑day hearing the trial court sentenced him to life without parole plus consecutive 10‑year terms on related counts.
White moved to suppress his statements as the product of an illegal warrantless arrest and challenged the life‑without‑parole (LWOP) sentence on constitutional grounds; the trial court denied the motion and imposed LWOP after finding White “irreparably corrupt.”
On appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court White argued (1) his confession should have been suppressed due to a warrantless entry/arrest and immediate interrogation, (2) the court should have required proof beyond a reasonable doubt to find permanent incorrigibility before imposing LWOP, (3) the evidence did not support irreparable corruption by the applicable standard, and (4) the sentencing court improperly relied on allegedly immunized testimony.
The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed: it found no reversible error in denying suppression, held preponderance is the appropriate burden at sentencing under current precedent, concluded the record supports the trial court’s irreparable‑corruption finding, and deemed any error about immunized testimony harmless.

Issues

Issue	White's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Admissibility of post‑arrest statements after warrantless entry/arrest	Statements were the fruit of an illegal warrantless home arrest and immediate interrogation; suppression required	Officers had probable cause based on family statements; any Payton issue was minimal and statements made outside home after arrest are admissible where probable cause exists	Denial of suppression affirmed: court accepted trial‑court findings of probable cause and relied on New York v. Harris line of cases to admit statements
Burden of proof for finding juvenile permanently incorrigible at LWOP sentencing	Due process and Eighth Amendment require proof beyond a reasonable doubt of permanent incorrigibility before LWOP	No Supreme Court or Georgia precedent requires beyond‑a‑reasonable‑doubt; ordinary sentencing factfinding uses preponderance	Preponderance is sufficient under existing federal and state precedent; no constitutional violation shown
Sufficiency of evidence that White is irreparably corrupt	State did not prove permanent incorrigibility even by preponderance; trial court’s finding unreliable	Trial court’s detailed factual findings (planning, initiating, extreme conduct, evasive behavior, juvenile history) support irreparable‑corruption determination	Trial court’s finding supported by the record; LWOP sentencing affirmed
Use of testimony from Warren’s trial (allegedly immunized) in sentencing	Testimony given under immunity at Warren’s trial was improperly used against White at sentencing, requiring a new hearing	Trial court stated its sentence would be the same absent that testimony; any error was harmless	Even if consideration of that testimony was error, the trial court’s alternative finding makes any error harmless; no new sentencing required

Key Cases Cited

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (U.S. 1979) (standard for reviewing sufficiency of the evidence)
Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573 (U.S. 1980) (warrantless, nonconsensual home entry to make a routine felony arrest generally prohibited)
Brown v. Illinois, 422 U.S. 590 (U.S. 1975) (statements following illegal arrest may be excluded)
Dunaway v. New York, 442 U.S. 200 (U.S. 1979) (custodial interrogation after an illegal seizure implicates exclusionary concerns)
New York v. Harris, 495 U.S. 14 (U.S. 1990) (where probable cause exists, statements made outside the home after an in‑home arrest are admissible)
United States v. Crews, 445 U.S. 463 (U.S. 1980) (unlawful arrest does not automatically bar prosecution or use of all derivative evidence)
Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (U.S. 2012) (mandatory LWOP for juveniles unconstitutional; sentencer must consider youth)
Montgomery v. Louisiana, 577 U.S. 190 (U.S. 2016) (Miller applies retroactively)
Veal v. State, 298 Ga. 691 (Ga. 2016) (interpreting Miller: juvenile LWOP appropriate only for juveniles who are irreparably corrupt)
Medina v. California, 505 U.S. 437 (U.S. 1992) (Mathews balancing not generally applicable to state criminal procedure claims)
United States v. Watts, 519 U.S. 148 (U.S. 1997) (preponderance of the evidence at sentencing generally satisfies due process)
Stinski v. State, 281 Ga. 783 (Ga. 2007) (probable cause to arrest may be established by hearsay from residents)