Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School (AJMLS) Associate Professor, Michael Mears, was a special guest on the New York based show “Law and Crime,” which is shown nationally and on many cable outlets. In this segment, Professor Mears explores details regarding the recent death penalty case in Georgia involving Tiffany Moss who was tried in the death of her stepdaughter. This case has drawn national attention for reasons such as her decision to represent herself during the trial. At the conclusion of the trial, Ms. Moss was sentenced to death and became the sixth woman in Georgia’s history to have this sentence. This video goes into further detail on the outcome as Professor Mears explains the death penalty laws and trial procedures involved in such a case in Georgia. He also provides a thorough discussion of the death penalty appeals process along with an explanation on the clemency procedures possibly available to Ms. Moss.
The video of the full interview can be found here.
Professor Mears has been on the faculty at AJMLS since 2007. He teaches evidence, advanced evidence, criminal law, criminal procedure, and criminal law ethics. In 2003, Michael was selected to be the founding Director of the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council after serving for over ten years as the Director of the Multi-County County Public Defender Office, a state-wide death penalty public defender service funded by the State of Georgia. He then retired from that position in 2007 and has been an Associate Professor at AJMLS since. Professor Mears is the author of numerous articles and books, and his background makes him uniquely qualified to comment on the issue at hand in the interview.
Thank you for your continued contributions to the legal community, Professor Mears. We appreciate all of your efforts!