Favors v. State, 305 Ga. 366

In October 2012, Demarcus Booker was shot to death in his car; evidence showed multiple shots and a fatal gunshot to the back of his head. Defendant Dearies Favors was arrested after admitting to shooting Booker and taking his money and jewelry.
A witness (Christopher Reese) was on the phone with Booker while the shooting occurred; Reese testified and later became emotional while a recorded 911 call was played.
Police photographed the victim at the scene; one contested photograph showed Booker’s wounds with his body in a face-up position (defendant argued he had been moved).
Favors was convicted of malice murder and related offenses; he filed a motion for new trial challenging (1) admission of the crime-scene photograph and (2) the trial court’s refusal to give an immediate sympathy instruction after Reese’s emotional outburst.
The trial court admitted the photograph and declined to give the sympathy instruction mid-testimony but gave a general anti-sympathy jury charge at the end; the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Admissibility of crime-scene photograph (relevance)	Photograph did not accurately depict scene because victim was turned face-up before photo; therefore not relevant	Photo fairly showed nature and location of injuries and corroborated State’s evidence	Photo was relevant; no abuse of discretion in admitting it
Admissibility under Rule 403 (undue prejudice vs probative value)	Photograph was gruesome and unfairly prejudicial; probative value was substantially outweighed	Photographs directly corroborated circumstances of killing; gruesomeness alone does not make it inadmissible	Trial court did not abuse discretion under Rule 403; probative value outweighed prejudice
Request for immediate sympathy instruction after witness became emotional	Trial court should have immediately instructed jury to disregard sympathy influence when Reese became emotional	Court appropriately paused, allowed witness to compose himself, completed testimony, and later gave a general anti-sympathy charge	No abuse of discretion; later general instruction cured any potential prejudice

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (established standard for sufficiency of the evidence review)
Pike v. State, 302 Ga. 795 (photographs showing victim’s injuries corroborate circumstances of killing)
Moss v. State, 298 Ga. 613 (trial court discretion on photographic evidence relevance and admission)
Hood v. State, 299 Ga. 95 (Rule 403 is aimed at excluding minimally probative, cumulative evidence offered for prejudice)
Olds v. State, 299 Ga. 65 (exclusion under Rule 403 is extraordinary and sparingly used)
Plez v. State, 300 Ga. 505 (gruesome but fair and accurate photographs offered for relevant purpose are not generally inadmissible under Rule 403)
Williams v. State, 276 Ga. 384 (response to an emotional witness is within trial court discretion)
Todd v. State, 274 Ga. 98 (jurors presumed to follow court instructions; discretion on juror sympathy cures)
Brannan v. State, 275 Ga. 70 (emotional reaction not necessarily prejudicial absent hysterical conduct or prejudicial comments)
Dick v. State, 246 Ga. 697 (court’s pause to allow witness to compose himself renders prejudice unlikely)
Allen v. State, 277 Ga. 502 (qualified jurors presumed to follow instructions)