Hamilton v. State

Summary

The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed Hamilton's convictions, rejecting his claims that the trial court erred in denying directed verdicts on felony murder, aggravated assault, and firearm possession, and rejecting his arguments that the court failed to give a good‑character jury instruction and that his counsel was ineffective. The Court applied the Jackson v. Virginia test for sufficiency of evidence and found the evidence sufficient, and held that any omission of a character instruction was plain error that did not affect the verdict, and that no prejudice was shown for ineffective assistance.