Supreme Court of Georgia, 2010

The court upheld the statutory aggravating circumstance for murdering a peace officer against an equal protection challenge, concluding that rational-basis review applies and that the circumstance furthers legitimate deterrence and officer-protection purposes.

The court held that expert evidence is required in a simple-negligence case only when establishing causation requires answers to specialized medical questions beyond a lay jury’s common knowledge and experience.

The court held that the felony-murder statute's requirement that a defendant "cause" a death incorporates ordinary proximate-cause principles, rather than requiring the defendant or a co-felon to directly inflict the fatal injury.

The Supreme Court of Georgia dismissed Walter Williams' direct appeal from the trial court's denial of his March 2009 motion to correct an illegal sentence, in which he argued that his armed robbery conviction had merged as a matter of fact with his malice murder conviction under OCGA § 16-1-7 (a).