The Georgia Supreme Court (SCOGA) Tuesday overturned the murder conviction and life sentence given Emmanuel Harris for the September 2021 stabbing death of his girlfriend, Jordan Gooch.
The high court, in a 4-1 ruling, said in a 44-page majority opinion that the trial court abused its discretion by admitting evidence of a past battery case, and the State failed to prove the error was harmless. “Harris’ conviction must therefore be reversed.”
But the court left the door open for retrial should the State chose to hold one.
The lone dissenter was Justice Shawn Ellen LaGrua, who wrote, summarizing her 15-page opinion, “Harris’ contradictory testimony and the evidence presented against him…were compelling evidence of his guilt, and other evidence presented against him (was) compelling evidence of his guilt, and (other evidence) was not inherently prejudicial, both because the jury heard that Harris pleaded guilty to the related aggravated battery charge and because the State did not unduly emphasize, or unfairly characterize, the…evidence during trial or in closing.”
Harris had filed an appeal January 4, 2023.
You can read the court’s entire ruling here: s24a0910.pdf