Banks v. State

Summary

The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed Banks's convictions for malice murder, burglary, and firearm offenses, as well as his life-without-parole sentence. The court held that the evidence was constitutionally sufficient, any possible Confrontation Clause violation caused by the courtroom replica was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, and the remaining claims were either meritless, subject to the trial court's discretion, or unpreserved. The court also concluded that Banks's ineffective-assistance claim was waived because it was not raised at the earliest practicable opportunity.