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    4.70 States Motion in Limine As To THC

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    Law of Self Defense
    The prosecution filed a motion to exclude evidence that Ahmaud Arbery had a minor amount (3.2 ng/mL) of THC in his system at the time of his death. The motion argues that the toxicology report and testimony from the medical examiner on the THC finding should be excluded because there is no way to know if Arbery was actually under the influence of marijuana or what effect, if any, it had on him. The prosecution cites several previous court cases where similar evidence of drugs in a victim's system was excluded when the expert could not determine the actual influence or effects on the victim.

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    4.70 States Motion in Limine As To THC

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    Law of Self Defense
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    The prosecution filed a motion to exclude evidence that Ahmaud Arbery had a minor amount (3.2 ng/mL) of THC in his system at the time of his death. The motion argues that the toxicology report and testimony from the medical examiner on the THC finding should be excluded because there is no way to know if Arbery was actually under the influence of marijuana or what effect, if any, it had on him. The prosecution cites several previous court cases where similar evidence of drugs in a victim's system was excluded when the expert could not determine the actual influence or effects on the victim.

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    4.70 States Motion in Limine as to THC

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    4.70 States Motion in Limine as to THC

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    The prosecution filed a motion to exclude evidence that Ahmaud Arbery had a minor amount (3.2 ng/mL) of THC in his system at the time of his death. The motion argues that the toxicology report and testimony from the medical examiner on the THC finding should be excluded because there is no way to know if Arbery was actually under the influence of marijuana or what effect, if any, it had on him. The prosecution cites several previous court cases where similar evidence of drugs in a victim's system was excluded when the expert could not determine the actual influence or effects on the victim.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    39K views4 pages

    4.70 States Motion in Limine As To THC

    Uploaded by

    Law of Self Defense
    The prosecution filed a motion to exclude evidence that Ahmaud Arbery had a minor amount (3.2 ng/mL) of THC in his system at the time of his death. The motion argues that the toxicology report and testimony from the medical examiner on the THC finding should be excluded because there is no way to know if Arbery was actually under the influence of marijuana or what effect, if any, it had on him. The prosecution cites several previous court cases where similar evidence of drugs in a victim's system was excluded when the expert could not determine the actual influence or effects on the victim.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    The document discusses a motion filed by the State regarding evidence of THC found in Ahmaud Arbery's system after his death. The State is arguing that evidence of a minor amount of THC should be excluded from the trial as it is not relevant to the defense's justification argument.

    The State is moving to exclude evidence that Ahmaud Arbery had a small amount of THC in his system at the time of his death, as reported by the toxicologist. They will argue the toxicologist cannot say if he was under the influence of THC at the time of the homicide or what effects THC may have had on him.

    The State is seeking to exclude the testimony of the toxicologist Amanda Cooke, and the toxicology report finding a minor amount of THC in Ahmaud Arbery's system, as not being relevant to the defendant's justification defense.

    FILED RM—

    GLYNN CO. CLERK'S OFFICE


    Filed 10/4/2021 5:04 PM
    Accepted 10/5/2021 8:10 AM
    CASE # CR-2000433
    x14
    IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF GLYNN COUNTY CLERK SUPERIOR COURT

    STATE OF GEORGIA

    STATE OF GEORGIA *
    * Indictment:
    V. * CR 2000433
    *

    GREG MCMICHAEL *

    TRAVIS MCMICHAEL *

    WILLIAM R. BRYAN *

    4.70 STATE’S MOTION IN LIMINE AS TO THC

    The State moves this Court to exclude evidence that Mr. Arbery had 3 .2ng/mL
    of THC in his system at the time of his death, per the report of Toxicologist Amanda
    Cooke of the GBI dated July 14, 2020, who will not be able to testify as to Whether
    Mr. Arbery was under the inuence of THC at the time of the homicide nor What the
    effects of THC were on Mr. Arbery.
    1.

    There is a long line of cases that support the contention that marijuana in a
    decedent’s system at the time of death, including in cases where the defense is self-
    defense, is not admissible when there is no way to know whether the Victim was
    actually under the inuence of marijuana at the time he was killed, and no expert
    can say what, if any effect the marijuana had on the Victim at the time of his death.
    See James V. State, 270 Ga. 675, 676 (1999); Rivera v. State, 295 Ga. 380, 384
    (2014) (Because there was no evidence regarding when the Victim had consumed
    cocaine or what, if any, effect it had on him at the time of the altercation, evidence
    regarding the toxicology report would likely have been excluded as irrelevant to
    defendant’s justication defense.)
    2.

    Speculation is not allowed. Robinson V. State, 272 Ga. 13 1, 133 (2000)


    (Where the expert witness could not say what, if any, effect cocaine had on the victim
    at the time of his fatal argument with appellant, the trial court correctly concluded
    that the expert's evidence was too speculative.)
    3.
    The Georgia Supreme Court has noted that “[e]vidence of drug use is
    inadmissible when it is intended only to impugn a Victim's character and has no
    relevance to any disputed issues in the case.” Gill v. State, 296 Ga. 351, 352 (2014)
    (Where defendant speculated that drugs in the victim’s system could have been
    affecting him at the time of the homicide, there was insufcient basis for the
    toxicology evidence to be admitted at trial.) See also, e.g., James v. State, 270 Ga.
    675, 676 (l 999) (exclusion of expert testimony on Victim's marijuana use was proper
    where “the defense could not demonstrate how the use of drugs contributed to
    behavior ofthe Victim that would have been relevant to [the defendant's] justication
    defense”).
    4.
    In this case, we have a very minor amount of THC, that was not found during
    the rst toxicology screening ofthe Victim’s blood, but only at the second screening.
    In cases where alcohol or cocaine have been found in the victim’s system, and the
    defendant wished to show that the victim was the rst aggressor, it was not error to
    exclude such evidence when there was no way for the expert to opine what effect
    the substances had on the victim at the time of death. See Daniels v. State, 276 Ga.
    632, 633 (2003) (In a self-defense case, it was not error for the trial court to grant
    the State’s motion to exclude evidence that the victim had cocaine in his system at
    the time of the murder since the defendant could not prove with some degree of
    certainty that the drugs caused the victim to be violent); Dunn v. State, 292 Ga. 359,
    361-362 (2013) Wot error for the trial court to refuse to allow the medical examiner
    to testify to the Victim’s blood alcohol content of 0.072 when the ME “did not know
    the victim's experience With alcohol and could not tell whether it made her euphoric,

    aggressive, or sleepy.”); Mondragon v. State, 304 Ga. 843, 845-846 (2019) (Not
    error to exclude toxicology report when defendant was unable to proffer evidence of
    the effect that the victim’s blood alcohol content would have had on him or even the
    effect that drinking alcohol had on the victim generally.)
    The State requests that the testimony of Amanda Cooke, and the toxicology
    report nding a minor amount of THC in the Victim’s system, be excluded as not
    being relevant to the defendant’s justication defense.

    This the 4th day of October, 2021.

    /S/ Linda J. Dunikoski


    Linda J. Dunikoskj
    State Bar # 233887
    Senior Assistant District Attorney
    District Attorney Pro Tempore
    Cobb Judicial Circuit

    /S/ Larissa Ollivierre


    Larissa Ollivierre
    State Bar # 743602
    Senior Assistant District Attorney
    District Attorney Pro Tempore
    Cobb Judicial Circuit

    /S/Paul Camarillo
    Paul Camarillo
    State Bar # 2 l 5044
    Senior Assistant District Attorney
    District Attorney Pro Tempore
    Cobb Judicial Circuit
    CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
    This is to certify that the undersigned has this day served opposing counsel with a true and
    correct copy of the above 4.70 STATE’S MOTION IN LIMINE AS TO THC Via the Odyssey E-
    File System to:

    Mr. Robert G. Rubin


    Mr. Jason Shefeld
    Peters Rubin Shefeld & Hodges, PA
    2786 North Decatur Road, Suite 245
    Decatur, GA 30033
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    (404) 296—5300

    Laura and Frank Hogue


    Hogue & Hogue LLP
    341 Third Street
    PO Box 1795
    Macon, GA 3 1202—1795
    (478) 750-8040
    [email protected]
    [email protected]

    Mr. Kevin Robert Gough


    Ms. Jessica Burton
    Kevin Gough Firm LLC
    PO Box 898
    Brunswick, GA 3 1 521
    [email protected]
    [email protected]
    (912) 242-51 14

    This the 4th day of October, 2021.

    /S/ Linda J. Dunikoski


    Linda J. Dunikoski
    Senior Assistant District Attorney
    State Bar # 233887
    District Attorney Pro Tempore
    Cobb Judicial Circuit
    70 Haynes Street, Marietta, GA 30090
    Tel. (770) 528-3080
    [email protected]

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