Georgia Supreme Court affirms Arnsdorff’s murder conviction and upholds tampering sentence

The Supreme Court of Georgia on June 24, 2025, affirmed the convictions of Tony Arnsdorff for malice murder and related offenses in the 2017 death of Courtney Wells. Justice Pinson, writing for the Court, held the evidence was sufficient to allow a reasonable jury to conclude Arnsdorff was a party to the killing and that the trial court did not plainly err in two contested jury instructions.

The case arose after Wells’s body was found along a remote dirt road on Jan. 15, 2017. The opinion summarizes trial evidence that Wells died from multiple shotgun wounds and that investigators recovered shotgun shells and phone records connecting Wells, Scott Pinholster, and Arnsdorff in the hours before the killing. Arnsdorff was tried separately and convicted following a jury trial on Sept. 9–10, 2019; the trial court imposed life without the possibility of parole for malice murder plus consecutive and concurrent terms on related counts.

Justice Pinson described several categories of evidence the Court found sufficient to support the jury’s verdict. That evidence included phone records showing repeated calls and texts between Pinholster and Arnsdorff as Pinholster arranged to meet Wells; testimony that Arnsdorff hid in the back seat of Pinholster’s truck, punched Wells, and later helped move her body; and forensic toolmarks showing that a shell from the scene and a shell found at Pinholster’s house were fired from the same firearm. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the Court concluded the jury could infer Arnsdorff shared Pinholster’s intent to kill Wells and therefore was a party to malice murder.

Arnsdorff argued on appeal that the trial court plainly erred by giving a pattern instruction that allowed consideration of alleged flight and by instructing jurors that his out-of-court statements should be received with “great care and caution.” The Court treated both claims under the plain-error standard because defense counsel did not object at trial. On the flight instruction, the Court acknowledged the instruction was improper under existing precedent but concluded the instructional error did not likely affect the jury’s verdict given the whole record and the limited role that evidence of flight played in the State’s case. On the out-of-court-statements instruction, the Court concluded the charge was not a clear and obvious error in light of prior authority and statutory text requiring careful consideration of admissions and confessions.

Arnsdorff also challenged the trial court’s imposition of a felony sentence for tampering with evidence (moving Wells’s body and destroying a phone). The Court explained that OCGA § 16-10-94 requires a felony sentence when the tampering involves the prosecution or defense of a felony and involves another person, and it held the felony sentence was authorized because the tampering sought to prevent Pinholster’s apprehension and prosecution for murder.

The Court affirmed the judgment. The opinion notes concurrence by Chief Justice Peterson, Presiding Justice Warren, and Justices Bethel, Ellington, McMillian, LaGrua, and Colvin. The decision was filed June 24, 2025.

Counsel of record listed in the opinion include Robert L. Persse for the appellant and Daphne J. Totten, Keith McIntyre, and Matthew Breedon for the State; the opinion also lists the Office of the Attorney General attorneys on the brief for the State.