Mcelrath v. Georgia (601 U.S. 87)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided February 21, 2024 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 601 U.S. 87 · 144 S. Ct. 651
- Decided
- February 21, 2024
- Term
- October Term 2023
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Jackson
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
(Slip Opinion) OCTOBER TERM, 2023 1 Syllabus NOTE: Where it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as is being done in connection with this case, at the time the opinion is issued. The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has been prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader. See United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co., 200 U. S. 321 , 337. SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES Syllabus MCELRATH v. GEORGIA CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF GEORGIA No. 22–721. Argued November 28, 2023—Decided February 21, 2024 After petitioner Damian McElrath killed his mother, the State of Georgia charged him with three crimes related to her death: malice murder, felony murder, and aggravated assault. At trial, the jury returned a split verdict against McElrath: “not guilty by reason of insanity” with respect to malice-murder, and “guilty but mentally ill” as to the other counts. On appeal, the Supreme Court of Georgia determined that the jury’s “guilty but mentally ill” verdict for felony murder was “repug- nant” to the jury’s “not guilty by reason of insanity” verdict for malice murder under Georgia law, because the verdicts “required affirmative findings of different mental states that could not exist at the same time.” See 308 Ga. 104 , 112, 839 S. E. 2d 573 , 579. The court vacated both the malice-murder and…
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