Brooks v. State

Sears, Justice.

The appellant, Christopher Brooks, was convicted of the malice murder of Derrick Brown and of violating the Georgia Controlled Substances Act.1 On appeal, Brooks contends, among other things, that the trial court erred by conducting a portion of his trial outside his presence, and that this error requires that his convictions be reversed. We agree, and therefore reverse Brooks’s convictions.

1. Having reviewed the record in the light most favorable to the verdict, we conclude that a rational trier of fact would have been authorized to find that Brooks shot the victim during an…