Leslie successfully argued that the Court of Appeals of Georgia should remand—send back—a Client’s case to the trial court because the trial court failed to conduct a proper analysis of the legal issues raised after the Client’s conviction.
Client was represented by another attorney in a bench trial, and Leslie accepted the case for appeal. Leslie argued the trial court should weigh the evidence as the 13th juror, but the trial court failed to do so, incorrectly ruling that analysis did not apply to bench trials.
The Court of Appeals of Georgia found the trial court erred when it failed to conduct the proper analysis, even though the case was bench tried. The judge who heard the case co-hosts a popular podcast, and used this case as a teaching aid for the State’s judges.
See The Good Judge-Ment Podcast on Motions for New Trial, published in 2019, while the case was in the appellate process.
Outline of The Good Judge-Ment Podcast.