Abebe v. State

── Abebe 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. S26A0240 Hailu Abebe v. The State On Appeal from the Superior Court of Henry County No. 2020-SU-CR-0838-DR Decided: May 19, 2026 BETHEL, Justice. Hailu Abebe was convicted of murder and other crimes in connection with the shooting death of Brian Woolridge. 1 On ap- peal, Abebe claims the trial court erroneously failed to instruct 1 The crimes occurred on July 7, 2020. In December 2020, a Henry County grand jury indicted Abebe for malice murder (Count 1), felony murder predicated on aggravated assault (Count 2), five counts of aggravated assault against Woolridge and four other individuals (Counts 3–7), and five counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony (Counts 8–12). At a January 2023 trial, a jury found Abebe guilty on all counts except for one count of aggravated assault (Count 7) and one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony (Count 12). The trial court sentenced Abebe to serve life in prison with the possibility of parole on Count 1, a concurrent 20 years’ imprisonment on each of Counts 4–6, and a consecutive 5 years’ imprisonment on each of Counts 8–11. The remaining counts merged or were vacated by operation of law. the jury that, before considering Abebe’s statements to police, it should first determine whether some of Abebe’s pretrial state- ments were voluntary and obtained in compliance with his rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 US 436 (1966). We reject Abebe’s claim and affirm. 1. Abebe fatally shot Brian Woolridge during a domestic dispute, in the presence of multiple eyewitnesses against whom Abebe also committed aggravated assault. A Henry County Police Department officer was the first officer to respond to the scene of the shooting. The officer’s body camera captured his interactions with Abebe at the crime scene, and the footage was played for the jury at trial. When the officer arrived at the scene, eyewitnesses to the shooting identified Abebe as the shooter. The officer located Abebe, “covered in blood” and in the yard where the shooting oc- curred, and placed him in handcuffs. While the officer was hand- cuffing Abebe, a neighbor approached and asked Abebe, “Hey, what’s going on, man?” Abebe responded, “They were moving out and leaving me behind, and I didn’t like that.” While Abebe con- versed with the neighbor, the officer called out to others at the scene, alerting them that Abebe was bleeding and asking where the firearm was. The neighbor walked away a few seconds later. The officer walked Abebe around the yard, near where paramed- ics were providing care to Woolridge, and instructed Abebe to sit Abebe timely moved for a new trial in February 2023 and amended the motion in September 2024, through new counsel. The trial court held a hearing on t