Augusta Criminal Law Blog

The criminal defense team of a man convicted of a 2009 murder in Augusta, Georgia, has run out of appeals in the state, with the Georgia Supreme Court denying his appeal. The man was convicted of killing the owner of a Chinese restaurant on May 30, 2009.

The Supreme Court justices did not agree with the man's contention that sentencing an immature, 20-year-old man to life in prison was tantamount to cruel and unusual punishment. The justices said that argument only applies to life sentences. They also said that while the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that young offenders cannot receive a life term for crimes that don't involve homicide, that argument does not apply in this case.

A former high school teacher is facing charges of committing sex crimes with a 17-year-old student. The 57-year-old man, who taught ROTC courses in the Augusta, Georgia, suburb of Harlem, was taken to the McDuffie County Law Enforcement Center after his arrest for sexual assault against a person in custody.

The man had already resigned from his position more than a month before his arrest, just after police officials asked him if he and the student had engaged in sexual activity, which he denied. The student, however, on at least three occasions said that sexual relations had occurred, according to a sheriff's official.

A father and son in suburban Augusta, Georgia, will need the help of a criminal defense attorney after the death of a 13-year-old girl in their home.

Sheriff's officials in Columbia County, Georgia, said a 14-year-old boy shot the girl in the face, and coroner's officials said she died when a bullet from a .38-caliber revolver entered her brain. The teenagers were in the boy's house with two friends preparing for a middle school dance when the shooting occurred.

A Georgia woman who previously worked at a detention center for young people faces a pair of felony charges for allegedly committing sex crimes against a child.

After an investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, prosecutors charged her with child molestation and sexual assault against a person in custody. Her alleged victim was a 14-year-old being detained at the Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center. There is no trial date yet.