Crews v. State, 300 Ga. 104

On July 25, 2009, Vernon Forrest was robbed at a Chevron station and later shot and killed after pursuing one of the robbers; J’Quante Crews was implicated for his role in events surrounding the robbery and shooting.
Co-indictees were Demario Ware (the robber/shooter’s cohort) and Charmon Sinkfield (the shooter). Crews drove Ware’s car away and later picked up Sinkfield after the shooting.
Crews was indicted for malice murder, three counts of felony murder (predicated on aggravated assault, possession by a convicted felon, and armed robbery), aggravated assault, armed robbery, possession of a firearm during a felony, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
After a jury trial, Crews was convicted of malice murder, two counts of felony murder, aggravated assault, armed robbery, and the firearm possession counts; one felony-murder count was acquitted.
The trial court merged certain convictions into the malice murder sentence; Crews appealed alleging juror misconduct and erroneous admission of lay expert testimony from a cell‑carrier records custodian.

Issue	Crews' Argument	State's Argument	Held
Juror misconduct (juror knew co-defendant and received calls)	Juror 41’s acquaintance with "Twin" (Sinkfield) and subsequent telephone contact infected jury and denied fair trial	Juror’s contacts were minimal, she avoided discussing the case, affirmed impartiality, and did not influence verdict	No new trial; juror’s conduct did not presumptively prejudice verdict
Admissibility of MetroPCS records custodian testimony (cell‑tower ping testimony)	Lay witness improperly offered expert location opinion about phone proximity to towers	Testimony was admissible or, assuming error, harmless because other evidence placed defendants at scene	Even if error, harmless due to cumulative surveillance and eyewitness evidence
Sufficiency of evidence for convictions	Evidence would not support party liability for murder and related offenses	Evidence (calls, movements, pickups, and eyewitness/surveillance placing co-defendants at scene) supported party liability	Convictions affirmed; evidence sufficient under Jackson v. Virginia
Sentencing merger of counts	Trial court properly merged felony-murder and underlying felonies into malice murder for sentencing	State relied on court’s merger; defense argued merger improper	Court affirmed convictions but vacated portion of sentence: felony-murder counts should have been vacated by operation of law, and the independent armed‑robbery sentence must be reimposed on remand

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (standard for sufficiency of evidence review)
Graves v. State, 298 Ga. 551 (vacation of felony‑murder counts that involve same victim as malice murder)
Culpepper v. State, 289 Ga. 736 (merger principles for aggravated assault into malice murder as a matter of fact)
Malcolm v. State, 263 Ga. 369 (once felony‑murder count vacated, underlying felony cannot merge into the vacated count)
Leeks v. State, 296 Ga. 515 (discussing vacated felony‑murder counts and sentencing consequences)
Sims v. State, 266 Ga. 417 (juror irregularity presumption of prejudice and burden on prosecution)
Pass v. State, 273 Ga. 534 (new‑trial standard when juror action not presumptively prejudicial)
Watkins v. State, 237 Ga. 678 (juror misconduct rising to constitutional significance requires extrajudicial, prejudicial evidence)
Moody v. State, 277 Ga. 676 (harmless‑error doctrine where evidence is cumulative)

Judgment: Convictions affirmed in part; sentencing vacated in part and remanded for proper resentencing on armed robbery (Count 6).