Williams v. State

── Williams v. State ── Court: Supreme Court of Georgia Date: May 19, 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. S26A0491 Jaye Alexander Williams v. The State On Appeal from the Superior Court of Richmond County No. 2018-RCCR-395 Decided: May 19, 2026 ELLINGTON, Justice. Jaye Alexander Williams appeals his convictions for malice murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime in connection with the shooting death of Robert Lee Brown, Jr. 1 Williams contends that the evidence was constitutionally insufficient to support his convictions and that his trial counsel provided constitutionally ineffective assistance. For the reasons 1 The crimes occurred on December 26, 2017. On March 20, 2018, a Richmond County grand jury indicted Williams for malice murder, felony murder, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. After a jury trial that ended on March 28, 2019, Williams was found guilty on all counts. On that same day, Williams was sentenced to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole for malice murder and a consecutive five-year prison term for the firearms count. The felony murder count was vacated by operation of law. Williams filed a timely motion for new trial, which he amended through new counsel on March 3, 2022, and September 19, 2024. The trial court denied Williams’s amended motion for new trial on July 1, 2025. Williams filed a timely notice of appeal, and the case was docketed in this Court to the term beginning in December 2025 and submitted for a decision on the briefs. explained below, we affirm. 1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdicts, the evidence presented at trial showed that Williams drove Brittany Woods, the mother of Brown’s child, to Brown’s house and subsequently killed Brown by shooting him three times, including twice in the back. Woods and Brown had previously lived together, but the relationship was “toxic,” and after they broke up, Woods threatened to kill Brown. On December 25, 2017, Brown was with his girlfriend, Quanda Lane, at his house, where he lived with his cousin Joe Wright. Williams drove Woods and her infant son to Brown’s house around midnight. Lane, Wright, and a neighbor heard Woods yelling and cursing outside the home and demanding that Brown wake up and come out. Woods banged on the doors and windows with a mop handle, breaking the window where Brown was sleeping. At one point, Woods took her screaming infant from the back seat of Williams’s car and yelled for Brown to come get his son. Wright told Brown to stay inside, left the house, and asked Woods to leave. Shortly thereafter, Wright left the house to give another cousin a ride to meet a friend. Lane testified that Brown went outside to see if he could calm Woods down. When Wright returned about ten minutes later, he saw Brown outside picking the shirtless infant up off the ground and walking toward Williams’s car. While Brow