Georgia's Supreme Court has upheld the murder conviction of a Newton County man found guilty of running over Kevin Marshall with his pickup truck after a fight between them turned deadly, according to The Covington News. Joshua Edward Anderson, now 34, had argued that his trial attorney botched his defense by never hiring an accident reconstruction expert to challenge the state's version of events.
The court's decision keeps in place a conviction stemming from the July 4, 2019, death of Kevin Marshall, as reported by Atlanta Black Star. Anderson and Marshall had fought before witnesses broke up the scuffle, the outlet reports. Marshall then left on foot, and Anderson allegedly went after him behind the wheel of a Toyota Tacoma, striking him with the truck after rounding a sharp curve.
Arrest in Upstate New York
Anderson was eventually apprehended in upstate New York, as noted by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
A Newton County jury found Anderson guilty of charges stemming from the 2019 incident. Anderson was initially convicted of malice murder, felony murder and aggravated assault, with the felony murder count later vacated by operation of law. His trial took place in September 2019.
Appeal Centered on Missing Expert Testimony
Anderson is serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole. He had sought a new trial by claiming his defense attorney was ineffective for failing to retain an accident reconstruction expert to testify at the 2019 proceeding, but Newton County Superior Court denied that bid. Anderson then took his case to the Georgia Supreme Court, which has now upheld the original malice murder conviction.
Ineffective-assistance claims tied to accident reconstruction experts have surfaced in other Georgia cases as well. In a 2008 ruling, the Georgia Court of Appeals considered a similar argument from a defendant who contended his trial counsel should have hired such an expert to challenge the state's theory of a collision, according to court records published by Justia. That case involved different facts and is not presented as comparable in outcome to Anderson's appeal.
With the state's highest court rejecting his claim, Anderson's malice murder conviction and life sentence remain intact.
