BENNETT v. THE STATE (Two Cases)

── BENNETT v. THE STATE (Two Cases) ── Court: Supreme Court of Georgia Date: May 05, 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. S26A0049 Bennett v. The State and No. S26A0226 Kates v. The State On Appeal from the Superior Court of Glynn County No. CR2100241 Decided: May 5, 2026 COLVIN, Justice. Everett Bennett and Travis Tyrone Kates appeal from their convictions for malice murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in connection with the shooting death of Antonio Randolph. 1 On appeal, Kates challenges the suf- ficiency of the evidence supporting his convictions as a matter of 1 The crimes occurred on July 22, 2019. On November 20, 2019, a Glynn County grand jury indicted Bennett, Kates, and Ethan Bennett (“Ethan”). The co-indictees were reindicted on July 14, 2021, October 13, 2021, and finally on December 15, 2021. The final indictment, on which Bennett and Kates were later tried (Indictment No. CR-2100241), jointly charged Bennett, Kates, and Ethan with malice murder (Count 1), felony murder (Count 2), ag- gravated assault with a deadly weapon (Count 6), and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony (Count 7). The co-indictees were also sepa- rately charged with felony murder in Count 3 (Kates), Count 4 (Ethan), and Count 5 (Bennett). Bennett and Ethan were jointly charged with simple bat- tery (Count 8). Kates and Bennett were separately charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon (Counts 9 and 11, respectively). And Ethan was separately charged with possession of a firearm by a first offender probationer (Count 10). The trial court severed Ethan’s case. Ethan was tried first, and a jury found him guilty. A jury trial was then held for Bennett and Kates on Indict- ment No. CR-2100241 from February 28 through March 3, 2022. The trial court granted Bennett’s motion for a directed verdict as to the simple-battery count (Count 8). The court presented to the jury a “dummy” version of Indictment No. CR-2100241, which removed the simple-battery count (Count 8), removed the counts naming only Ethan (Counts 4 and 11), and renumbered the counts. As relevant here, Counts 6, 7, and 9 of the indictment corresponded, respec- tively, to Counts 5, 6, and 8 of the “dummy” indictment. The jury found Bennett and Kates guilty of all counts against them, except for the simple-battery count, which had been removed from their con- sideration. Following the jury verdict, the trial court nol prossed the indict- ments against Bennett and Kates that the grand jury had returned before In- dictment No. CR-2100241. The trial court entered final dispositions for Bennett and Kates that used the count numbers from Indictment No. CR-2100241, rather than the count numbers appearing on the “dummy” version of the indictment that was given to the jury. As to both