March 22-24, 2022 – Postell stood trial before a jury.
Prosecutors told jurors that the shooting was a result of an argument over money and that Lawson was unarmed. They contended that Postell planted the handgun next to Lawson.
Postell testified at trial and told jurors that Lawson pointed a gun at him inside the home. Postell said he moved Lawson’s things outside of his [Postell’s] home and Lawson returned with a pistol, threatening to kill him. Postell told jurors that he would not drop the gun and he was in fear for his safety and his mother’s, prompting him to fire one shot at Lawson with a rifle.
Outside the presence of the jury, defense attorneys once again tried to get the court to permit information known to Postell, including:
- His personal knowledge of an unsolved murder of a juvenile named James Mikell, who Lawson admitted to killing
- The identity of Lawson’s accomplices
- The location of the murder
According to the Georgia Supreme Court ruling, “The court denied Postell’s motion without explanation.” Postell, his mother, and his sister testified, but were prohibited from presenting the evidence.
Postell was ultimately found guilty on all seven charges.
July 7, 2022 – Judge Thompson presided over the sentencing hearing and sentenced to Life in Prison without the Possibility of Parole, plus five years. He received credit for time served in jail after his arrest dating back to April 1, 2020.
July 20, 2022 – Chief Public Defender Renatta Newbill-Jallow filed a Motion for a New Trial, citing:
- The state’s failure to adduce evidence sufficient to sustain Postell’s convictions.
- The verdict returned against the defendant was contrary to the principles of justice and equity and contrary to the weight of the evidence.
- The Court committed errors of law that would require a new trial.
August 25, 2023 – Postell retained defense attorney Kimberly Copeland.
January 4, 2024 – Copeland filed an amended brief in support of a Motion for a New Trial, calling the trial “a travesty.”
“Surely if the judge were sitting as another juror in this case and hard and considered the testimony of Investigator Reid Odom below, he would have been constrained to conclude that Postell’s acts were justified as a matter of law…
The decedent [Lawson] first committed aggravated assault upon Postell by pointing a 9mm handgun at him and threatening his life. Upon arrival of the Georgia State Patrol Trooper Aaron DiGiacomo on the scene, he kicked the 9mm handgun away from the decedent where he lay on the ground. The handgun had a round chambered, ready to be fired. Also, the decedent had a “slide bite” on his right hand with dried blood between his thumb and index finger. As explained by INvestigator Reid Odom of the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office:
A “slide bite” is a term for when a weapon is fired, if someone has big hands or if they have a high grip on the firearm, when the slide comes back and moves forward as the round is fired and ejected, the bottom of the slide can bite the top of the hand. The bite would be a scrape or an abrasion.
Thus, the decedent either fired at Postell or was preparing to fire his weapon at him. Postell was therefore justified in firing his gun at the decedent.”
August 9, 2024 – The case is transferred from Judge Peed to Judge Thompson because Judge Thompson handled the sentencing for Postell in July 2022.
September 25, 2024 – Judge Thompson presides over a hearing on the Motion for a New Trial.
August 26, 2025 – Judge Thompson issued an Order, granting Postell’s Motion for a New Trial. He ruled that the evidence was sufficient to support the jury’s verdict, but that the citation used by prosecutors to exclude the evidence was superseded by the new Evidence Code and that Postell should have been permitted to present character evidence about Lawson.
“In conclusion, although the jury convicted Postell, he was not allowed to introduce evidence which may have changed that outcome,” Thompson wrote. “Postell was denied his constitutional right to present a complete defense and be accorded a fair trial.”
Prosecutors announced their intention to appeal the ruling by Thompson and ADA Keith McIntyre appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court three weeks later.
June 30, 2026 – Georgia Supreme Court upholds Thompson’s ruling, granting Postell’s Motion for a New Trial.
Georgia Supreme Court Ruling
In a 21-page ruling, the Georgia Supreme Court emphasized that Georgia’s adoption of a new Evidence Code in 2013 fundamentally changed how courts must analyze these issues.
“[w]e conclude that a trial court would abuse its discretion by concluding, as the court here did at trial, that evidence of a victim’s violent character and of his specific acts of violence about which the defendant had knowledge is inadmissible as “impermissible character evidence…the trait was relevant to Postell’s claim of self defense…that Lawson was the aggressor.”
“As a threshold matter, we note that the State repeatedly and improperly cites cases decided under the former Evidence Code in advancing its arguments.”
“Finally, the State argues that portions of Postell’s custodial statement were properly redacted because…Postell could have sought the admission of those statements by taking the stand and testifying about them. But the State ignores that Postell attempted to do just that — Postell’s motion filed on the eve of trial anticipated that he would testify in his own defense”and sought a ruling permitting him to offer testimony to that effect.
The unanimous decision detailed that the evidence about Lawson’s character was admissible under Georgia’s current Evidence Code because it bears on the reasonableness of the Postell’s belief that deadly force was necessary.
“It was relevant to Postell’s justification defense, specifically his need to show that Lawson was the aggressor and that his fear of Lawson was reasonable. Postell was the only eyewitness to the events immediately leading up to the shooting and to the shooting itself, so the success of his self-defense claim depended entirely on the jury’s crediting his testimony.”
The Court did not determine that Postell acted in lawful self-defense or that he is entitled to an acquittal. The case now returns to Bulloch County Superior Court, where the case will be tried once again.
