The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday issued an opinion on the convictions of Alex Cowart and John Andrew Adams, sentenced in 2011 for the Oct. 28, 2010, slaying of Savannah College of Art and Design student Sean Giroir during a home invasion.
The Court has upheld Cowart’s convictions, but is sending the case back to the lower court for resentencing because he was improperly sentenced for two felony murder convictions when there was a single victim.
The Court has reversed Adams’ convictions, and ruled he is entitled to a new trial due to the “erroneous and harmful admission” of certain evidence.
However, the Court states the evidence “presented at trial was sufficient to authorize a rational jury to find Adams guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes for which the jury returned guilty verdicts. Accordingly, the State may retry Adams if it so chooses.”
Cowart, identified as the gunman who fired two 9 mm gunshots into Giroir, 20, as the victim chased after him, was convicted on two felony murder charges, earning him concurrent life prison terms.
Adams, identified in testimony as the planner of the scheme who later drove the silver Honda CRV getaway car, was convicted on a single felony murder charge and was sentenced to a single life imprisonment charge.
Testimony showed Cowart and a second, armed bandit, Daniel Izzo, 19, forced their way into the Barnard Street address in an attempt to steal marijuana and cash from Giroir.
Michael Levi, 22, and several others in the house were held at gunpoint by Izzo as Coward and Izzo fled.
Giroir gave chase along with Levi. A third man, Miles Antle, also gave chase but was not injured.
Levi was shot and wounded as he rounded 35th at Barnard streets, but survived. Giroir was shot twice and killed by Cowart, testimony showed.
Adams, who was waiting on 35th Street in the Honda with motor running, drove the pair to the Atlanta area where all three were arrested in a room of a Comfort Inn in Sandy Springs the next day.
Izzo, who pleaded to a reduced murder charge and related counts, testified as a state’s witness in return for a negotiated plea that removes a possible life prison term.
He initially told two Savannah-Chatham police detectives that Adams did not know about the scheme and did not participate.
But in statements to prosecutors — with his lawyer, Richard Darden, present — Izzo said the idea was Adams’ and he was involved.
Defense attorneys attacked Izzo’s credibility in an effort to diffuse his testimony.
Adams’ lawyers contended he never left the car and did not participate in any of the crimes charged.
The Georgia Supreme Court found that the trial court’s admission of a proffer statement by Izzo was in error. In Adams’ case, that was deemed harmful.
“Without Izzo’s testimony, there is no evidence whatsoever indicating that Adams had knowledge of the armed robbery before it happened,” the opinion reads. “Adams did have access to the getaway vehicle, which belonged to his girlfiend’s mother, who testified that her daughter was using the car at the time of the crimes. But no one except Izzo identified Adams at the crime scene or placed him with Izzo and Cowart until after the crimes were complete.”
The Court ruled the state may retry Adams, writing that there was sufficient evidence presented at trial independent of Izzo’s testimony that Adams could be found guilty of the crimes for which he was convicted.