Taylor v. State

Summary

The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed Taylor’s convictions for malice murder and aggravated battery and his sentences of life without parole plus twenty consecutive years. The court held that Taylor waived his asserted mental-health evidentiary theory, failed to show that the trial court improperly penalized him for rejecting a plea offer, and failed to establish reversible error in the denial of a mistrial. It also held that counsel was not constitutionally ineffective in declining to pursue an insanity defense and that any deficiency in presenting additional sentencing mitigation did not prejudice Taylor.