Clark v. State, 296 Ga. 543

Background

Constance Clark was convicted of malice murder and a related firearms offense for the December 13, 2005 killing of her husband; she was sentenced to life plus five years. The indictment followed a cold‑case reinvestigation; codefendant DeVaughn was separately tried and convicted.
Key evidence: Clark was beneficiary on two life policies totaling $600,000; she and victim had financial problems and prior threats/violence; she allegedly told a friend she needed to “collect some insurance money.”
Eyewitness/accomplice testimony: DeVaughn lured the victim to a vacant subdivision; DeVaughn shot the victim; accomplices Tumlin and Branch testified about statements linking the killing to Clark. Cell records showed four calls between Clark and DeVaughn on the night of the murder.
Additional testimony: Derrick Henry told investigators Clark paid Pierre $5,000 to kill the victim; Clark later phoned police asking why the insurance had not paid. Tumlin testified under use immunity; one autopsy‑performing ME had moved out of state and another ME reviewed the autopsy materials and testified.
Trial rulings at issue on appeal: sufficiency of the evidence (including circumstantial‑evidence and single‑accomplice rules), prosecutor’s unsworn remark in opening, admission of a non‑autopsy ME’s opinion, and replaying an accomplice’s videotaped statement (continuing‑witness rule).

Issues

Issue	Clark's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence to convict as party to murder	Evidence was insufficient; largely circumstantial and relied on a single accomplice	Evidence (accomplice testimony, Branch and Henry, phone records, motive/insurance, statements) sufficiently links Clark to plot	Convictions affirmed; evidence sufficient under Jackson and Georgia law; circumstantial evidence and corroboration adequate
Whether circumstantial evidence standard (exclude every reasonable hypothesis) was met	Circumstantial proof did not exclude all reasonable hypotheses except guilt	Evidence included non‑circumstantial elements and circumstantial proof was adequate to let jury reject other hypotheses	Court held jury reasonably could exclude other reasonable hypotheses; statute satisfied
Prosecutor’s unsworn testimony in opening statement	Opening included unsworn remarks about prosecutor’s role; requires reversal	No contemporaneous objection; any unsupported remark was harmless and jury was instructed openings are not evidence	Issue not preserved; no reversible harm shown
Admission/replay of accomplice videotape and continuing‑witness rule	Replay of Tumlin’s videotape during detective testimony, closing, and at jury request violated continuing‑witness rule and prejudiced Clark	No objection at trial; continuing‑witness rule governs what goes into jury room, not courtroom replay; replay was permissible	Issue not preserved; even on merits continuing‑witness rule did not bar courtroom replay; no reversible error
Admission of medical‑examiner testimony who did not perform autopsy	ME who didn’t perform autopsy should not opine on cause of death	Expert reviewed autopsy photos/x‑rays/report and formed independent opinion; prior precedent allows reliance on others’ data	No objection preserved; and Georgia precedent permits an expert to base opinion on others’ data; admission harmless since manner of death undisputed

Key Cases Cited

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (standard for sufficiency of evidence review)
Vega v. State, 285 Ga. 32 (deference to jury on witness credibility and conflicts)
Merritt v. State, 285 Ga. 778 (circumstantial evidence rule; jury decides whether other hypotheses are excluded)
Threatt v. State, 293 Ga. 549 (corroboration rule for accomplice testimony)
Crawford v. State, 294 Ga. 898 (phone records can corroborate accomplice testimony)
Watkins v. State, 285 Ga. 355 (expert may base opinions on data gathered by others)
Whitehead v. State, 287 Ga. 242 (preservation rules for appellate review of evidentiary objections)
Burgeson v. State, 267 Ga. 102 (harmlessness and limits on opening‑statement assertions)
Rector v. State, 285 Ga. 714 (admission of expert testimony based on review of autopsy materials)