State Supreme Court upholds murder convictions

The Albany Herald, Ga.
·1 min read

Feb. 15—ATLANTA — Among opinions issued Monday, the Supreme Court of Georgia has upheld convictions and life prison sentences for a Colquitt County man and five others convicted of murder in the state. Among those whose convictions were upheld were:

— Kalvin Suggs (Colquitt Co.) SUGGS v. THE STATE;

— Jerry Carston (Troup Co.) CARSTON v. THE STATE;

— Kelvin Bernard Hurston (Troup Co.) HURSTON v. THE STATE;

— Hakim Lofton (Fulton Co.) LOFTON v. THE STATE;

— Nathan Mims (Richmond Co.) MIMS v. THE STATE;

— Eric Lydell Smith (Clayton Co.) SMITH v. THE STATE;

In another opinion, CHAMP v. THE STATE, the court has concluded that the evidence presented at the trial of Dekita Champ "was sufficient to support his convictions, so we affirm that part of the trial court's judgment."

Champ was convicted in Ben Hill County Superior Court of malice murder and a firearm offense in connection with the shooting death of his former girlfriend, Jana Watson. However, the high court has partially vacated the trial court's judgment and remanded the case for the trial court to hold a hearing and rule on Champ's claim that his absences from a number of bench conferences during jury selection violated his constitutional right to be present during all critical stages of the criminal proceedings against him.