Austin v. State, 300 Ga. 889

Defendant Eric Robius Austin, a convicted felon, lived with girlfriend Sade Danmola and their infant; he also stayed at another woman’s home.
On March 27, 2011, after an argument when Danmola returned home from work, Austin shot her in the abdomen; she later died.
A neighbor heard Danmola plead, “Please don’t kill me.” Austin called 911 but fled, leaving the infant in the apartment.
At trial Austin testified he had a gun already and fired when he saw the bedroom doorknob turn, claiming he thought a burglar was entering.
A jury found Austin guilty of malice murder, felony murder, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and related counts; he was sentenced to life plus consecutive terms.
On appeal Austin challenged sufficiency of the evidence and the trial court’s refusal to give a requested "sudden emergency" instruction on the felon-in-possession charge; the State conceded some post-trial matters regarding charges and merger were resolved by Georgia precedent.

Issue	Austin's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence for convictions	Evidence insufficient; Austin shot believing he was defending against a burglar	Evidence supports convictions; jury entitled to reject Austin’s self-defense claim	Affirmed: evidence sufficient under Jackson v. Virginia
Duty to give "sudden emergency" instruction on felon-in-possession count	Trial court should have charged that acquiring a gun during a sudden emergency to defend oneself can negate felon-in-possession liability	Requested charge did not fit the evidence; Austin already possessed the gun before any sudden emergency	No error: charge properly refused because evidence did not show sudden acquisition
Applicability of Cauley sudden-emergency doctrine	Requested charge tracked Cauley and could provide acquittal theory despite felon status	Cauley applies only when defendant suddenly acquires actual possession to defend; not applicable here	Court: Cauley-based jury charge not warranted on facts presented
Sentencing merger of felon-in-possession count into malice murder	Trial court merged felon-in-possession into malice murder for sentencing	State relied on trial court’s sentencing consolidation	Vacated portion merging felon-in-possession; remanded for resentencing because felon-in-possession does not merge into malice murder

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (standard for sufficiency review)
Dean v. State, 273 Ga. 806 (deference to jury on credibility and conflicting testimony)
Cauley v. State, 260 Ga. 324 (approved criminal sudden-emergency instruction when defendant suddenly acquires a gun to defend)
Chester v. State, 284 Ga. 162 (felon-in-possession does not merge into malice murder)
Hulett v. State, 296 Ga. 49 (failure to sentence separately on non-merged count requires resentencing)
Malcolm v. State, 263 Ga. 369 (operation-of-law vacatur of certain felony murder counts)