Supreme Court of Georgia
Willis v. the State.
June 29, 2018816 S.E.2d 656
Summary
The court affirmed Willis's convictions for murder, rape, and related offenses. It held that the jury instruction referring to the location where the victim's body was found as the "scene of the crime" violated the statutory prohibition against judicial comments on disputed facts, but the amended procedural statute applied retroactively and required plain-error review because Willis did not object. The court concluded that the instructional error did not likely affect the outcome in light of the strong evidence of guilt.