The Georgia Supreme Court reversed Maria Owens’ 2020 murder conviction in the death of an 11-month-old boy at her Fulton County daycare, ruling the trial judge gave the jury incorrect instructions about what crimes she could be convicted of at the same time.
What’s Happening: The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the trial court wrongly told jurors they could not find Owens guilty of both involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault or first-degree child cruelty based on the same act. Involuntary manslaughter requires criminal negligence, while aggravated assault and child cruelty require criminal intent. The court said Owens can be retried for felony murder because the evidence was sufficient to support those verdicts. Her child cruelty conviction remains in place, but her sentence on that count was vacated.
What Changed: Owens was first tried in 2013 and convicted of felony murder and involuntary manslaughter. The Supreme Court reversed those convictions in 2014, ruling the verdicts were mutually exclusive. In 2015, the Supreme Court reversed that precedent, deciding guilty verdicts for negligence crimes and intent crimes are not automatically mutually exclusive because proof of a more serious mental state does not erase proof of a less serious one.
The Error: The trial judge in the 2020 retrial instructed the jury using the old 2014 rule that had been reversed. Justice Charlie Bethel wrote that the judge incorrectly believed the law of the case doctrine required using the old rule. The law of the case doctrine prevents revisiting issues actually decided in an earlier appeal, but does not freeze all law in place from that time. The first appeal decided whether the 2013 jury’s verdicts were mutually exclusive, but did not address mutual exclusivity for other verdicts.
The Ruling: The majority opinion said there is a reasonable probability the trial result would have been different with correct jury instructions on the felony murder charge. The court said Owens did not show the child cruelty verdict would have been different without the error, so that conviction stands. Justice Bethel wrote, “Last time, we used a sledgehammer and did so incorrectly. We now attempt a more precise approach.”
The Dissent: Justice Carla Wong McMillian wrote a partial dissent joined by Presiding Justice Sarah Hawkins Warren and Justice Verda M. Colvin. The dissent agreed with the majority’s reasoning on the jury instruction error and reversal of the felony murder charge. McMillian wrote the court should have reversed all convictions affected by the error, including child cruelty, aggravated assault, and involuntary manslaughter, because of “the intertwined nature of these counts.” She said the State should decide whether to retry Owens and on which charges.
What’s Next: Owens can be retried for felony murder. Her sentencing on the child cruelty conviction will depend on the outcome of any retrial on the felony murder charges.
