The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday reversed Fulton County murder convictions against two men because the trial judge excused a juror without notifying the defendants.
James Ward and Jonathan Kilgore were convicted of murder, burglary and aggravated assault for the 2003 shooting death of John Reid, 31, and the assault of another man. They must now stand trial again.
During a lunch break at the 2006 trial, a juror told the judge she had been having anxiety attacks and was unable to focus. Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Long then excused her from the trial.
"I let her go," Long told the lawyers. "You all weren't here. If you had seen her, you would have agreed."
In Monday's unanimous opinion, the state Supreme Court said criminal defendants have the right to be present, see and hear all court proceedings. This is a fundamental right and a foundational aspect of due process of law, Justice Hugh Thompson wrote.
Defendants can waive their right to be present at certain proceedings, but in this instance they were not even asked to waive it, Thompson noted. Even though the evidence supports the convictions, Ward and Kilgore are entitled to a new trial, the decision said.
Ward and Kilgore were charged with plotting to rob Reid, a known drug dealer, at his southwest Atlanta home. When the two defendants, who were both armed, reached the house, Ward opened fire on Reid, who died of a bullet wound in his back, the ruling said.
Kilgore's lawyer, Darice Good, and Ward's lawyer, Bruce Harvey, both praised the decision."This is a well-established principle and everybody should understand the defendant has the right to be there at all times," Harvey said.
At the time of Monday's ruling, Kilgore and Ward were serving life sentences in the Georgia prison system.
In a separate decision Monday, the Supreme Court reinstated child molestation charges against a man accused of assaulting a 10-year-old girl.
The court sent the case back with instructions for Fulton Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter to apply a different legal analysis when weighing Phillip Pickett’s right to a speedy trial. Pickett was arrested in July 2003 on the molestation charges and indicted almost three years later. Baxter dismissed the case in December 2008 on speedy-trial grounds.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard praised the ruling. "What seems to be lost in many of these discussions is the fact that these allegations involve serious offenses against children," he said, adding that he hopes the decision moves the case closer to trial.
Pickett's lawyer, Ashleigh Merchant, expressed disappointment. "The length of time this case was pending in the trial court was roughly one and a half years longer than it took to resolve the Civil War," she said.
Also Monday, the court accepted ex-federal judge Jack Camp's voluntary surrender of his license to practice law. Camp pleaded guilty last year to drug charges involving his relationship with a stripper. The court also disbarred Brooks Blitch III, the former Superior Court judge from South Georgia who pleaded guilty to corruption in 2009.
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