Background

• Brown was convicted in Richmond County of malice murder, five counts of aggravated assault, and six counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime; the felony murder conviction was vacated by operation of law and he received a life sentence for malice murder plus concurrent prison terms for the other offenses.
• The convictions arose from a July 27, 2006 shooting in Augusta in which Brown allegedly accompanied Mark Graham and Damien Hawes to the home of P. J. Graham’s relative; after a confrontation, Graham fired a fatal shot that killed Albright.
• Brown argued on appeal that the evidence was insufficient to prove he was a party to the crime, that the State impermissibly used peremptory strikes to remove Black jurors (Batson challenge), and that the trial court erred in sustaining objections to his counsel’s closing argument.
• The State argued Brown’s conduct before and during the shooting supports an inference that he aided, encouraged, or counseled the shooter, and that the Batson challenge failed to show a prima facie case of racial discrimination; the closing-argument objections fell within the trial court’s broad discretion.
• The jury selection transcript is not included, complicating the Batson prima facie assessment; though Black jurors were struck, there was substantial Black representation on the venire and the jury, which does not itself establish purposeful discrimination.
• The court affirmed the judgment, holding the evidence sufficient to support party-to-crime liability, denying relief on the Batson issue, and upholding the closing-argument rulings.

Issues

Key Cases Cited

• Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986) (racial discrimination in jury selection)
• Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979) (sufficiency of evidence standard)
• Mitchell v. State, 275 Ga. 42 (2002) (prima facie showing of discriminatory purpose requires more than disparate impact)
• Simmons v. State, 289 Ga. 773 (2011) (prior conduct can support liability as a party to a crime)
• Metz v. State, 284 Ga. 614 (2008) (evidence of prior conduct may infer encouragement or counseling)
• Livingston v. State, 271 Ga. 714 (1999) (disproportionate impact alone does not prove discrimination in strikes)
• Watkins v. State, 289 Ga. 359 (2011) (prima facie case requires more than numbers; context matters)
• Davis v. State, 263 Ga. 5 (1993) (discrimination analysis must consider more than raw counts)
• Howe v. State, 250 Ga. 811 (1983) (voir dire record absence; burden on defendant to supplement record)
• Central Alabama Fair Housing Center v. Lowder Realty Co., 236 F.3d 629 (11th Cir. 2000) (unraised opportunities to strike affect prima facie analysis)
• Malcolm v. State, 263 Ga. 369 (1993) (vacatur of felony murder by operation of law)