Hills v. State

Summary

The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed Eric Bernard Hills's convictions for malice murder and related offenses arising from the shooting death of Branden Lewis. The court held that the trial court did not plainly err by refusing to instruct the jury on voluntary manslaughter because the evidence did not show serious provocation or sudden, violent, and irresistible passion, and Hills failed to preserve the instructional objection for ordinary appellate review.

Holdings

1. An objection at the charge conference does not preserve an objection to the charge as actually given; when a defendant fails to object after the final instructions and before the jury retires, appellate review of an omitted instruction is limited to plain error unless the error was affirmatively waived.
2. The trial court did not plainly err by refusing to instruct the jury on voluntary manslaughter because the evidence did not provide even slight evidence that Hills killed Lewis solely as the result of a sudden, violent, and irresistible passion caused by serious provocation sufficient to excite such passion in a reasonable person.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court plainly erred by refusing to instruct the jury on voluntary manslaughter when the evidence showed that Hills shot Lewis after Lewis entered the bedroom and allegedly raised his hand.
2. Whether Hills preserved an ordinary appellate challenge to the omission of the voluntary-manslaughter instruction by objecting at the charge conference but not after the final charge.

Disposition

affirmed