The State v. Kelly

Summary

The Supreme Court of Georgia reversed a trial court's grant of a new trial to Lonnie Kelly, holding that the omission of an express 'inherent dangerousness' instruction in his felony murder trial was not plain error: controlling precedent established that refusing such an instruction is not error at all, and the jury necessarily made the requisite dangerousness finding by convicting Kelly of vehicular homicide by reckless driving on identical charged facts. The Court also resolved an open question of statutory construction, holding that under OCGA § 17-8-58(b) appellate plain error review of unobjected-to jury charges is required whenever an appealing party properly asserts instructional error, and it adopted the federal four-prong plain error standard while expressly overruling contrary precedent. Because the trial court granted the new trial without reaching Kelly's remaining motion grounds, the case was remanded for consideration of those issues, including weight-of-evidence claims under OCGA §§ 5-5-20 and 5-5-21. Justice Hines, joined by Presiding Justice Carley, concurred specially, agreeing with the judgment but disputing Division 1's conclusion that plain error review is mandatory rather than permissive under OCGA § 17-8-58(b).