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Court: DeKalb must retry murder case

By Bill Rankin
May 29, 2012

The Georgia Supreme Court Tuesday reversed the murder conviction against Steven Lamar Scott, saying a DeKalb County judge improperly excluded evidence in the case.

Scott was convicted of fatally shooting Dan Smith in 2008 after, Scott said, his niece told him  Smith was molesting her. The high court said the trial judge should have allowed evidence of the alleged molestation to support a charge of voluntary manslaughter, which carries a lesser penalty than murder and is committed as a result of sudden, violent and irresistible passion.

About the Author

Bill Rankin has been an AJC reporter for more than 30 years. His father, Jim Rankin, worked as an editor for the newspaper for 26 years, retiring in 1986. Bill has primarily covered the state’s court system, doing all he can do to keep the scales of justice on an even keel. Since 2015, he has been the host of the newspaper’s Breakdown podcast.

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