Summary
The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Nehemiah Davis's convictions for malice murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. Davis argued that the State violated due process by presenting allegedly false cell-phone-location testimony, but the court held that the claim was waived because it was not raised at trial or in the motion for new trial. The court also concluded that, even if preserved, the claim did not establish that the trial was fundamentally unfair.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the evidence was sufficient to support Davis's convictions for malice murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
- Whether the State's allegedly erroneous testimony concerning cell-phone records denied Davis due process of law.
Holdings
- The evidence was sufficient to enable the jury to find Davis guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of malice murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
- Davis waived his due-process challenge because he did not raise it at trial or in his motion for new trial, and the court would not consider an argument raised for the first time on appeal.
- Even if preserved, the challenged testimony did not deny Davis due process because the alleged error did not render the trial fundamentally unfair.
Key quotations
“Due process guarantees that a criminal defendant will be treated with that fundamental fairness essential to the very concept of justice.” (292 Ga. at 92)
“It cannot be said that Davis’s trial was fundamentally unfair.” (292 Ga. at 92)
Factual background
On September 4, 2004, Jermaine Walker was shot several times near his grandmother's house while entering a vehicle. Witnesses identified Davis as one of the shooters, and other evidence placed Davis and his brother near the scene in connection with a white vehicle with dark tinted windows. Davis presented an alibi, but the State introduced testimony from a T-Mobile employee and a detective interpreting cell-phone records as inconsistent with that alibi. Davis did not object to the testimony at trial and did not raise a due-process claim in his motion for new trial.
Procedural history
Davis was indicted on December 1, 2004, for malice murder, felony murder, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. Following a jury trial ending August 11, 2006, he was convicted of malice murder and firearm possession, acquitted of felony murder, and sentenced to life imprisonment plus five consecutive years. The trial court denied his amended motion for new trial on April 26, 2010. The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed after Davis raised his due-process claim for the first time on appeal.