Carter v. State
302 Ga. 685
| Ga. | 2017Background
- On Sept. 25, 2011, 15-year-old Chandler Johnson was shot and killed; James Marlon Carter was later indicted for malice murder and related offenses.
- Carter claimed the shooting was accidental: he said he took Johnson to the woods to let him shoot a rifle and the rifle discharged when Johnson turned toward him. Medical evidence showed Johnson was shot in the back.
- Carter buried Johnson’s body and did not disclose the death until Oct. 5, 2011, when he led police to the grave after being driven to Dublin; he was Mirandized before recorded statements on Oct. 5 and Oct. 12.
- At trial Carter was convicted on all counts; he received life without parole for malice murder plus consecutive terms for other offenses. Carter appealed, raising sufficiency of the evidence, juror-strike rulings, admission of pretrial statements, and admission of text-message testimony.
- The trial court conducted Jackson–Denno hearings and reviewed recorded interviews and the recorded conversation between Carter and Johnson’s mother; the court found Carter’s confessions were voluntary and admitted them.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sufficiency of the evidence to support convictions | Carter: shooting was accidental; evidence insufficient for murder convictions | State: medical and circumstantial evidence (shot in back, concealment, delay in reporting) supports inference of malice and guilt | Evidence sufficient; convictions upheld under Jackson v. Virginia standard |
| Trial court struck two prospective jurors and denied strike of another | Carter: strikes and refusal to strike deprived him of fair jury | State/Trial court: first juror not a county resident; second was biased due to close relationship; third was merely confused about burden and curable | No abuse of discretion; strikes and refusal to strike were proper |
| Admission of pretrial statements (Oct. 5 & Oct. 12) after October 4 conversation with victim’s mother | Carter: statements were induced/coerced by mother’s threat that he wouldn’t get out until he revealed location, rendering statements involuntary | State: mother was not a state agent or shown to have coercive power; statements on Oct. 5/12 followed Miranda warnings and were voluntarily made | Trial court’s voluntariness finding not clearly erroneous; statements admitted properly |
| Admission of testimony about text messages from Carter to victim’s mother | Carter: texts are hearsay and insufficiently authenticated | State: texts are party admissions and sufficiently authenticated by mother’s contact list, relationship, and content | Text-message testimony admissible as admissions by party opponent and properly authenticated |
Key Cases Cited
- Morrison v. State, 300 Ga. 426 (2017) (jury resolves credibility of accident defense)
- Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979) (standard for sufficiency of the evidence)
- Gray v. State, 298 Ga. 885 (2016) (trial court discretion in juror-bias decisions)
- Norris v. State, 250 Ga. 38 (1982) (trial court may excuse unqualified juror on its own motion)
- Krause v. State, 286 Ga. 745 (2010) (cause for juror excusal where bias or fixed opinion exists)
- Jackson v. Denno, 378 U.S. 368 (1964) (pretrial hearing on voluntariness of confessions)
- Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966) (Miranda warnings and custodial interrogation)
- Sosniak v. State, 287 Ga. 279 (2010) (standard for reviewing voluntariness findings)
- Brown v. State, 266 Ga. 723 (1996) (telephone speaker identification and basis for admitting contents)
- Malcolm v. State, 263 Ga. 369 (1993) (merger and vacatur rules for overlapping convictions)
- Vergara v. State, 283 Ga. 175 (2008) (confession admissibility standard applies to incriminatory statements)
- Chulpayev v. State, 296 Ga. 764 (2015) (application of new Evidence Code provisions to incriminatory statements)