Supreme Court of Georgia
Esprit v. the State. Jones v. the State.
March 11, 2019826 S.E.2d 7
Summary
The court affirmed both appellants’ convictions. It held that Esprit’s counsel was not ineffective for failing to pursue novel theories to admit Jones’s withdrawn plea-hearing statements, because the proposed impeachment theory was uncertain and the statements lacked the reliability and importance required for a due-process exception. It also held that the trial court properly admitted evidence of Jones’s subsequent armed robbery because the evidence was sufficiently similar and relevant to motive and bent of mind.