Ragland v. State

── Ragland v. State ── Court: Supreme Court of Georgia Date: April 21, 2026 Category: General NOTICE: This opinion is subject to modification resulting from motions for reconsideration under Supreme Court Rule 27, the Court’s reconsideration, and editorial revisions by the Reporter of Decisions. The version of the opinion published in the Advance Sheets for the Georgia Reports, designated as the “Final Copy,” will replace any prior version on the Court’s website and docket. A bound volume of the Georgia Reports will contain the final and official text of the opinion. In the Supreme Court of Georgia No. S26A0495 Sheldon Ragland v. The State On Appeal from the DeKalb County Superior Court No. 21CR15915 Decided: April 21, 2026 PETERSON, Chief Justice. Sheldon Ragland appeals his convictions related to the shooting death of Kenneth Adair. 1 On appeal, Ragland argues that the trial court erred by: (1) excluding testimony that Derell Richardson, whom Ragland had claimed the police failed to 1 Adair was killed on or about June 11, 2017. In June 2021, a DeKalb County grand jury returned an indictment charging Ragland with malice murder (Count 1), felony murder (Count 2), armed robbery (Count 3), aggravated assault (Count 4), possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony (Count 5), possession of a firearm by a convicted felon (Count 6), and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon during the commission of certain crimes (Count 7). Count 7 was bifurcated for trial and later nolle prossed. At a jury trial in July 2022, the jury found Ragland not guilty of Count 6 and guilty of all remaining charges. The trial court sentenced Ragland to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Count 1, a consecutive life sentence on Count 3, and a consecutive five-year sentence on Count 5. Counts 2 and 4 were either vacated by operation of law or merged for sentencing purposes. Ragland timely filed a motion for new trial, and the trial court denied it following a hearing. Ragland timely filed a notice of appeal, and his appeal was docketed to this Court’s term beginning in December 2025 and submitted for a decision on the briefs. consider as a suspect in Adair’s death, had a 9mm handgun; (2) admitting a recorded jail call and allowing a detective to identify the speakers in the call despite the lack of a proper foundation; and (3) allowing a detective to opine that Ragland’s statements in the recorded call constituted an admission that he was there at the time of the shooting. Ragland also argues that (4) trial counsel was ineffective on various grounds, and that (5) the cumulative prejudice from these errors requires a new trial. None of these claims have merit, so we affirm. The trial evidence showed the following. 2 Courtney Johnson was best friends with Adair and considered him to be “like [a] brother.” Johnson was also friends with Justin Cunningham, who was best friends with Ragland and introduced him to Johnson. In November 2016, Johnson introduced Adair to Ragland, from whom she bought drugs. Adair also began buying drugs from Ragland, and Johnson often traveled with Adair during his trips from Tennessee to Ragland’s residence in Atlanta, where she often saw a black Lincoln Navigator. Johnson said that during these drug deals, Ragland never sent someone to do the deal for him and always did it himself. On the evening of June 10, 2017, Richardson picked u