Murder Conviction Overturned For Georgia Man Who Beat His Cousin To Death: ATLANTA, Georgia – The guy who was found guilty of killing his cousin by assaulting him in front of a petrol station in northeast Georgia has had his murder conviction overturned. Sherman Lamont Allen was convicted guilty of murder in 2019 in Elbert County and given a life sentence with the chance of parole in connection with the death of his cousin Treston Smith. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of Georgia reversed this decision.
The court determined, by a majority vote of 5 to 4, that there was enough evidence to allow the trial court to educate the jury on the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter and that the trial court’s decision to withhold such instruction from the jury must be overturned. Voluntary manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, while murder generally carries a life sentence.
After learning that his fiancé and Smith had been having an affair, Allen discovered his fiancé and Smith together in a car in the middle of the night, despite his fiancé’s denials. After Allen’s fiancé drove off, Smith got out of the car and told Allen that “something was going on.” After a fight, Smith was killed by a blow from Allen.
The Supreme Court found that Allen’s case had enough evidence to warrant the jury’s instruction on voluntary manslaughter, notwithstanding the trial court’s denial of his desire to do so. Allen contended on appeal.
“The cornerstone of our justice system is the right to a jury trial,” Presiding judicial Nels S.D. Peterson stated who quoted the 2004 U.S. Supreme Court opinion in Blakely v. Washington. “Accordingly, a critical element of that right is that certain questions are to be decided not by judges, but by jurors – ordinary members of a defendant’s local community, informed by local more and values.”
