CopyCited 116 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Oct 16, 2017 | 806 S.E.2d 573
...we look to decisions of the federal appellate courts construing and applying the Federal Rules, especially the decisions of the United States Supreme Court and the Eleventh Circuit. See Olds v. State,
299 Ga. 65, 69 (2) (786 SE2d 633) (2016).
OCGA §
24-4-418 provides for the admission of “evidence of the accused’s commission of criminal gang activity” where the defendant is charged under OCGA §
16-15-4, which is not at issue here. But OCGA §
24-4-418 (c) provides that this evidentiary rule is not the exclusive means to admit evidence of criminal gang activity....
CopyCited 82 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | May 6, 2019 | 305 Ga. 729
...Many "other rules" in the Evidence Code embody legislative policy decisions about the risks of prejudice associated with certain categories of evidence, including the 15 rules in Chapter 4 that authorize the exclusion of certain specific types of evidence. See OCGA §§
24-4-404 to
24-4-418....
CopyCited 44 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Jun 19, 2017 | 801 S.E.2d 897
...State,
295 Ga. 123 (757 SE2d 828) (2014).
Davis incorrectly asserts here that his trial was prior to the adoption of the new Evidence Code. However, this case was tried in May 2013, after the January 1, 2013 effective date of the new Code.
See also OCGA §
24-4-418 (c) (admissibility of criminal gang activity; “[t]his Code section shall not be the exclusive means to admit or consider evidence described in this Code section”).
The admissibility of evidence formerly known as “similar transacti...
CopyCited 33 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Dec 23, 2019
...tion of participation in
criminal street gang activity in OCGA §
16-15-4 in order to admit
otherwise relevant evidence of gang activity.” Davis v. State,
301
Ga. 397, 400 (801 SE2d 897) (2017) (citation and punctuation
omitted). See also OCGA §
24-4-418 (c).
In that regard, evidence regarding the defendant’s gang
affiliation is relevant and admissible when it is “intrinsic” to the
crimes charged....
CopyCited 17 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Oct 24, 2023
...Boone Boulevard and charged with
marijuana- and firearm-related offenses after investigators found
15 In its order denying Clark’s motion for new trial, the trial court
concluded that the evidence of the October 28 incident was admissible as
intrinsic evidence and because it satisfied OCGA §
24-4-418 (“Rule 418”), which
says that evidence of a defendant’s commission of criminal gang activity shall
be admissible in a criminal proceeding in which he is accused of violating
OCGA §
16-15-4, but that the State generally must provide notice of its intent
to offer such evidence at least ten days before trial....
...Rule
404 (b) purposes also satisfied Rule 418’s notice requirement. But because we
have concluded above that the evidence was admissible under Rule 404 (b), we
need not decide whether the evidence was admissible for these other purposes.
See OCGA §
24-4-418 (c) (“This Code section shall not be the exclusive means
to admit or consider evidence described in this Code section.”).
40
several guns, marijuana, cash, and scales associated with drug sales...
CopyCited 17 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Oct 25, 2022 | 314 Ga. 854
...at 48-49 (holding that the trial court did not abuse its
discretion in admitting evidence of crimes for which Edward Morris was
indicted, but which were severed for his trial, as relevant to prove the criminal-
gang-activity count against Morris). See also OCGA §
24-4-418 (a), which was
enacted in 2016 and which says that “[i]n a criminal proceeding in which the
accused is accused of conducting or participating in criminal gang activity in
violation of Code Section
16-15-4, evidence of the accused’s co...
CopyCited 11 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Oct 5, 2021 | 312 Ga. 565
...ined that “nothing
about this scenario can be read to suggest that a particular defendant’s prior
conviction could not be used against that same defendant in his or her own
case under the proper circumstances.” (emphasis omitted).
9 OCGA §
24-4-418 (a) provides:
In a criminal proceeding in which the accused is accused of
conducting or participating in criminal gang activity in violation of
Code Section
16-15-4, evidence of the accused’s commission of...
CopyCited 9 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Sep 6, 2023 | 317 Ga. 227
... Appellant’s three prior misdemeanor convictions for simple battery,
which were based on guilty pleas.2
2. Appellant contends that the trial court erred in admitting
evidence of his three prior misdemeanor convictions for simple
battery under OCGA §
24-4-418, because the State presented no
evidence that he was in a gang when he committed the prior crimes
or that he committed them to further the interests of a gang.3
2 One of the battery convictions was accompanied by a conviction for
misdemeanor obstruction of a 911 call, but Appellant’s arguments focus on the
battery convictions.
3 OCGA §
24-4-418 states:
(a) In a criminal proceeding in which the accused is
accused of conducting or participating in criminal gang activity in
violation of Code Section
16-15-4, evidence of the accused’s
commission o...
...“Satisfying all four prongs of this
standard is difficult, as it should be.” Id. (cleaned up).
Appellant has not made an affirmative showing that any error
in admitting the evidence of his three prior misdemeanor convictions
for simple battery under OCGA §
24-4-418 likely affected the
9
outcome of his trial....
CopyCited 8 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Dec 10, 2024 | 320 Ga. 457
...Accordingly, Appellant’s claim that it
was plain error for this incident to be admitted into evidence
pursuant to Rule 404 (b) fails.4
4 The State additionally argues, for the first time on appeal, that the
evidence involving Williams is also admissible under OCGA §
24-4-418 (a),
20
Judgment affirmed....
CopyCited 8 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Sep 21, 2021 | 312 Ga. 471
...evidence of Dunn’s two prior felony convictions (for theft by taking
and attempted burglary) and his prior misdemeanor conviction for
marijuana possession pursuant to OCGA §§
16-15-1 et seq.,
24-4-403
(“Rule 403”),
24-4-404 (b) (“Rule 404 (b)”), and
24-4-418 (“Rule 418”)
for the limited purpose of proving that Dunn violated the Gang Act.
Dunn’s attorney later filed a motion to exclude evidence of any
unindicted criminal gang activity, arguing that his prior convictions
3 We note...
CopyCited 4 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Mar 5, 2024 | 318 Ga. 566
318 Ga. 566
FINAL COPY
S23G0448. MCKINNEY V. THE STATE.
PETERSON, Presiding Justice.
We granted defendant Jerrion McKinney’s petition for
certiorari to consider the proper construction of an evidence rule,
OCGA §
24-4-418 (“Rule 418”), that in prosecutions under the
Georgia Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act (OCGA § 16-15-
1 et seq., hereinafter “Georgia’s Gang Act”) permits the admission of
evidence that the defendant has engaged in any one of a host of other
acts listed in Georgia’s Gang Act....
...such term is defined in Code Section
16-15-3, shall be
2
admissible and may be considered for its bearing on any
matter to which it is relevant.
The rule also contains a notice requirement. See OCGA §
24-4-418
(b). And it provides that the rule “shall not be the exclusive means
to admit or consider evidence described” therein. OCGA §
24-4-418
(c)....
...s
act and an intent to further a gang’s purposes. Reading Rodriguez
to establish “the necessity of reading the various sections of
[Georgia’s Gang Act] in conjunction with one another,” the trial
court concluded that “in reading OCGA §
24-4-418 and its reference
to OCGA §§
16-15-3 and
16-15-4 and those statutes in conjunction
with one another that a nexus between the prior act and an intent
to further gang activity must be established for the evidence to be
admissible under OCGA §
24-4-418 in this case.”
The State appealed, arguing that the trial court abused its
discretion by excluding some evidence of McKinney’s prior gang
activity, because the plain language of Rule 418 does not require the
State to show a connection between a gang and the other act....
...Rather, it provides that in gang prosecutions, “evidence of the
accused’s commission of criminal gang activity, as such term is
defined in Code Section
16-15-3, shall be admissible and may be
considered for its bearing on any matter to which it is relevant.”
OCGA §
24-4-418 (a)....
CopyCited 1 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Oct 31, 2024 | 320 Ga. 255
...affect the outcome below,” Lupoe,
300 Ga. at 244 (citation and
punctuation omitted), and this argument fails. See, e.g., Ruthenberg
v. State,
317 Ga. 227, 231 (2) (892 SE2d 728) (2023) (holding that
admission of three prior misdemeanor convictions pursuant to
OCGA §
24-4-418 was not plain error given overwhelming evidence
of defendant’s guilt).
Based on the foregoing, we affirm.
12 Defense counsel argued to the jury that the May 2018 incident was “a
relatively minor fact in this case, because who’s fooling who? That’s not what
Mr....
Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Oct 24, 2023 | 320 Ga. 255
...purposes of proving Clark’s intent, motive, opportunity, and
knowledge, because Dean sold large quantities of marijuana and
Clark was “in that lifestyle.” Specifically, the prosecutor asserted
intrinsic evidence and because it satisfied OCGA §
24-4-418 (“Rule 418”), which
says that evidence of a defendant’s commission of criminal gang activity shall
be admissible in a criminal proceeding in which he is accused of violating
OCGA §
16-15-4, but that the State generally must provide notice of its intent
to offer such evidence at least 10 days before trial....
...Rule
404 (b) purposes also satisfied Rule 418’s notice requirement. But because we
have concluded above that the evidence was admissible under Rule 404 (b), we
need not decide whether the evidence was admissible for these other purposes.
See OCGA §
24-4-418 (c) (“This Code section shall not be the exclusive means
to admit or consider evidence described in this Code section.”).
41
that the evidence showed that Clark had the intent and motive to
ro...
CopyPublished | Supreme Court of Georgia | May 6, 2019
....”
Many “other rules” in the Evidence Code embody legislative
policy decisions about the risks of prejudice associated with certain
categories of evidence, including the 15 rules in Chapter 4 that
authorize the exclusion of certain specific types of evidence. See
OCGA §§
24-4-404 to
24-4-418....
