Ga. Supreme Court Grants Sims New Trial

The state’s Supreme Court says a Toccoa man convicted of murder back in 2012 should receive a new trial.

In a ruling issued last week, the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the trial court’s decision to grant a new trial to Steve A. Sims, Jr.

Sims, Jr. was convicted of felony murder and other charges in September 2012 and then sentenced to life in prison with the opportunity of parole in connection to the March 2012 death of Shawn Hancock of Toccoa during an altercation the two men had at Sims, Jr.’s South Sage Street home.

In its ruling, the Court agreed with the initial trial court ruling and arguments from Sims’ attorneys that comments made by the prosecution during the opening statements regarding Sims’ silence with authorities prior to his arrest and failure to come forward were improper.

State law said prosecutors may not comment on either a defendant’s silence prior to arrest or failure to come forward voluntarily.

The Supreme Court said that Sims’ sole defense was justification and the prosecution’s comments about Sims not calling 911 after shooting Hancock, trying to get help for Hancock, or not being forthcoming with authorities initially, could have left the jury with the initial impression that Sims could be found guilty based on his failure to contact police after the shooting.

In the ruling, the Supreme Court added that it is not unreasonable to surmise that such an initial impression of guilty likely tainted the entire trial.

Furthermore, the Supreme Court agreed in its ruling that Sims’ trial attorneys provided ineffective counsel when they did not object to the comments made by the prosecution.

The Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office had argued that the trial court failed to consider other similar cases in which such comments were not deemed improper.

Also, prosecutors had argued that the defense counsel was not deficient and that it was a matter of trial strategy for the trial counsel about whether to object to the comments when they were made, which counsel chose not to do.