The Georgia Supreme Court has affirmed a trial court's decision denying Russell Williams' motion to withdraw his guilty plea in the beating death of Marcos Guerra-Lopez, according to an opinion issued Jan. 21, 2026.
Justice Lagrua authored the opinion in *Williams v. The State* (S25A1213), which involved Williams' appeal from the denial of his plea withdrawal motion. Williams had pleaded guilty to malice murder and multiple other charges connected to Guerra-Lopez's death in December 2018.
The case stems from violent crimes that occurred on Dec. 7 and 9, 2018. A Gwinnett County grand jury indicted Williams on Feb. 27, 2019, along with co-defendants Zarius Jajuan Williams and Glenda Victoria Carter. The indictment charged all three defendants, individually and as parties to a crime, with multiple serious felonies.
The charges included malice murder, three counts of felony murder predicated on armed robbery, aggravated battery, and aggravated assault. Additional counts covered armed robbery, multiple aggravated battery charges, several aggravated assault counts, and criminal intent to commit armed robbery. The comprehensive indictment reflected the serious and complex nature of the alleged crimes.
On April 26, 2023, Williams entered a non-negotiated guilty plea to all counts in the indictment. The trial court imposed significant sentences: life with the possibility of parole on the malice murder count and the armed robbery count, to run concurrently. Williams also received 20 years in confinement on several other counts, which would run concurrently with the life sentence. The remaining counts either merged with other charges or were vacated by operation of law.
The legal proceedings took an important turn shortly after sentencing. On May 4, 2023, Williams was appointed new counsel. Within weeks, on May 23, 2023, his new legal team filed a motion to withdraw Williams' guilty plea. This motion set the stage for nearly two years of additional litigation.
The trial court conducted an evidentiary hearing on the plea withdrawal motion on March 12, 2025. Following the hearing, the court deliberated for nearly two months before entering an order denying the motion on May 1, 2025. Williams subsequently filed a timely notice of appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court.
The case was docketed to the August 2025 term of the Georgia Supreme Court and submitted for decision on the briefs, meaning the court decided the matter based on written arguments without oral argument. This procedural approach is common in criminal appeals where the legal issues are well-established.
While the full text of the Supreme Court's reasoning is not available in the provided excerpt, the court's decision represents an affirmation of the trial court's judgment that Williams' guilty plea should stand. Motions to withdraw guilty pleas after sentencing face high legal standards and are typically granted only in exceptional circumstances.
The Georgia Supreme Court's opinion is subject to potential modification under Supreme Court Rule 27, which allows for motions for reconsideration. The court noted that the version published in the Advance Sheets for the Georgia Reports, designated as the "Final Copy," will replace any prior version. The bound volume of the Georgia Reports will contain the final and official text of the opinion.
The case highlights the finality that generally attaches to guilty pleas in criminal proceedings. Once a defendant pleads guilty and is sentenced, withdrawing that plea becomes significantly more difficult than before sentencing occurs. Courts typically require defendants to demonstrate compelling reasons why justice requires allowing plea withdrawal.
The tragic circumstances underlying the case involved the beating death of Marcos Guerra-Lopez, with multiple defendants facing serious charges. The prosecution's decision to pursue malice murder charges, along with multiple felony murder theories and other violent felonies, reflected the severity of the alleged crimes.
For Williams, the Supreme Court's decision means his guilty plea and resulting sentences will stand. The life sentence with possibility of parole on the murder and armed robbery counts represents one of the most serious punishments available under Georgia law, short of the death penalty or life without parole.
The involvement of multiple co-defendants suggests this case involved complex criminal activity that resulted in Guerra-Lopez's death. However, the current appeal focused specifically on Williams' individual motion to withdraw his plea, rather than the underlying facts of the crime or the involvement of other defendants.
The Georgia Supreme Court's decision brings this chapter of Williams' case to a close, though the opinion's subject-to-modification notice indicates the possibility of further proceedings if motions for reconsideration are filed. For now, Williams' convictions and sentences remain in effect as imposed by the trial court.