Cochran v. State

Supreme Court of Georgia

Cochran v. State

609 S.E.2d 353, 279 Ga. 51, 2005 Ga. LEXIS 141

CourtSupreme Court of Georgia

DecidedFebruary 21, 2005

DocketS05A0392

StatusPublished

Cited by2 cases

This text of 609 S.E.2d 353 (Cochran v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Cochran v. State, 609 S.E.2d 353, 279 Ga. 51, 2005 Ga. LEXIS 141 (Ga. 2005).

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Opinion

Fletcher, Chief Justice.

After this Court overturned Antonio B. Cochran’s malice murder conviction, 1 the State elected to re-sentence Cochran to life in prison for the remaining felony murder conviction. On appeal, Cochran contends that the new sentence is void because the trial court failed to conduct a hearing before issuing the new sentence.

*52 Decided February 21, 2005. Justin J. Wyatt, for appellant. Patrick H. Head, District Attorney, Andrew J. Saliba, Amy H. McChesney, Assistant District Attorneys, Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, Robin J. Leigh, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.

In Williams v. State, however, this Court held that “a sentence imposed by a trial court in a non-death penalty case is not rendered void by the court’s failure to conduct a pre-sentence hearing under OCGA § 17-10-2.” 2 Moreover, felony murder carries a mandatory life sentence, and as that was the only conviction at issue, the sentence imposed is required by law and Cochran suffered no harm by the failure to hold a pre-sentence hearing.

Judgment affirmed.

All the Justices concur.

1

Cochran v. State, 276 Ga. 283 (576 SE2d 867) (2003).

2

271 Ga. 686, 691 (523 SE2d 857) (1999).

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