Booth v. State, 301 Ga. 678

Background

In Feb. 2007 Shantle Vason suffered extensive blunt-force and sexual injuries; she later died. Booth, her boyfriend, was arrested at the scene with Vason’s blood on his shirt and injuries to his hand; DNA from Vason’s rectum matched Booth’s full 16-locus profile.
Booth was indicted (2011) for malice murder, two counts of felony murder (predicated on aggravated battery and abuse of a disabled adult), aggravated sodomy, aggravated sexual battery, and aggravated assault; tried in 2013 and convicted of malice murder, two felony murders (later treated by trial court as "merged"), aggravated sexual battery, and aggravated assault; acquitted of aggravated sodomy.
Booth raised: (1) plain error challenge to the trial court reading the indictment to the special competency jury; (2) objection to certain State closing comments about DNA timing; (3) challenge to admission of other-acts evidence (prior assaults on ex-girlfriends) under OCGA § 24-4-404(b); and (4) claim that the felony murder counts were improperly merged rather than vacated.
The trial court admitted testimony from Booth’s ex-partners about prior physical assaults; defense expert testified about limits on DNA persistence, including a 48-hour rule of thumb. The prosecutor argued in closing that the rectal full profile was more recent than the partial vaginal profile.
The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed convictions except it vacated the trial court’s nomenclature as to the felony-murder counts (finding they should be vacated rather than "merged") but found no remand for resentencing necessary because the predicate felonies were not separately charged or sentenced.

Issues

Issue	Booth's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Reading indictment to competency jury	Indictment details were irrelevant and prejudicial to competency determination	Nature/gravity of charges is relevant to competency; permissible to inform jury	No plain error; indictment properly read because charges are relevant to competency
Prosecutor closing comments re: DNA timing	Comments improperly suggested DNA can be time-stamped; mischaracterized expert testimony	Comments were reasonable inferences from expert testimony that DNA completeness diminishes with time	Overruled objection; comments permissible within wide latitude of closing argument
Admission of other-acts evidence (prior assaults)	Prior acts (simple battery) not relevant to intent required for charged offenses (malice murder/sexual battery)	Prior assaults show intent to injure with hands/objects relevant to aggravated assault and other charged counts	Admission not an abuse of discretion: other acts relevant to intent for aggravated assault and thus admissible under Rule 404(b)
Merger/vacatur of felony-murder counts	Trial court erred by "merging" felony murder counts into malice murder; requests remand for resentencing	Trial court used incorrect terminology but remand unnecessary because predicate felonies not separately charged/sentenced	Court vacated the "merger" (felony-murder counts vacated by operation of law) and declined remand for resentencing

Key Cases Cited

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (establishes legal-sufficiency standard in criminal cases)
State v. Kelly, 290 Ga. 29 (plain-error framework under OCGA § 17-8-58(b))
Lewis v. State, 279 Ga. 69 (competency standard: understanding nature/gravity of charges)
Black v. State, 261 Ga. 791 (charges’ nature relevant in competency proceedings)
Waldrip v. State, 267 Ga. 739 (permitting references to pending charges at competency hearing)
Olds v. State, 299 Ga. 65 (Rule 401 relevance standard and analysis of other-acts relevance)
State v. Jones, 297 Ga. 156 (standard of review and Rule 404(b) test for other-acts evidence)
Bradshaw v. State, 296 Ga. 650 (other-acts admissible where intent is the same)
Favors v. State, 296 Ga. 842 (felony-murder counts are vacated, not merged, with malice murder)
Atkinson v. State, 301 Ga. 518 (no remand for resentencing when predicate felonies not separately charged)