A superior court judge's error may set Geary Otis free even without going into trial after stabbing a 75-year-old woman to death. Public defender Amanda Grantham, Otis' lawyer, succeeded in challenging the judge's decision of mistrial after she appealed to the state Supreme Court.
According to Salon, the case began on June 17, 2013. Then 64-year-old Otis attacked Emmanuel Surry as he ran up the stairs of Baptist Towers, a senior citizen high-rise apartment building in Southwest Atlanta. He later stabbed Mary Oliver to death, who was asleep in her bed, after kicking down a metal door.
Court records showed that Otis was out of control that the police even had to fire a stun gun at him to calm him down. He was then arrested and put into prison.
Despite what he did, Grantham defended Otis in front of the jury in his murder trial on April 7, 2014. She stated that her client is a good guy who 'just snapped' that time, Atlanta Journal Constitution reported. Besides, he did not have any motives in attacking and killing Surry and Oliver, respectively, as he did not know the both of them, although he is also a resident in the building.
Grantham further expressed to the jury that the only possible verdict is not guilty by reason of insanity. The prosecutors were surprised, objecting that they were not given a heads up regarding an insanity defense. They added that they needed more time to prepare, as what ABC News reported.
For Grantham, she did not think she was obliged to notify the jury in advance since she had no plans in calling some experts. However, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville, the one overseeing the trial, thought otherwise as he believed the law required prior notice.
In addition, Glanville did not want to keep jurors long enough for the trial to be rescheduled. Thus, he declared a mistrial. Grantham was not in favor of this so she argued that since a jury had already been seated and the trial had started, it would lead to double jeopardy to re-try Otis. This means a person is improperly tried twice for the same offense.
The state Supreme Court stated that the judge made a mistake and had reversed his ruling. With this, Jan Jacobs, daughter of Oliver, pleaded for reconsideration as a murderer like Otis must not walk free just like that. However, if the Supreme Court declines to reconsider, Otis will be released after being imprisoned for three years.
