Heard v. State
296 Ga. 681
| Ga. | 2015Background
- On July 2009 two armed intruders entered Shereecka Pitts’s home; one shot Pitts multiple times in front of her two young daughters and sister, Lachauda, who identified Appellant Eric Tramaine Heard as the shooter.
- Police recovered a .40 caliber shell casing and a bullet from the bedroom; ballistics linked the bullet recovered from Pitts’s body to one found on the bedroom carpet.
- Four days after the crime, Lachauda identified Heard from a photographic lineup and later made an in-court identification; a tipster, Sterling Flint, gave a videotaped statement implicating Heard but recanted at trial.
- Heard was indicted on multiple counts (including malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, kidnapping, and weapons offenses), tried February–March 2012, convicted of felony murder and related offenses, and sentenced to consecutive life terms plus additional years.
- Heard’s amended motion for new trial raised: insufficient evidence, an impermissibly suggestive photographic lineup, ineffective assistance of counsel (multiple subclaims), evidentiary and jury instruction errors; the trial court denied the motion and the Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed.
Issues
| Issue | Heard's Argument | State's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sufficiency of the evidence to support convictions | Evidence was insufficient to prove Heard was the shooter | Eyewitness ID, ballistics, and Flint’s videotaped statement supported convictions | Evidence sufficient under Jackson v. Virginia; convictions upheld |
| Photographic lineup and misidentification | Lineup was unduly suggestive (used post-arrest photo) creating substantial risk of misidentification | Lineup photos were comparable; no police conduct suggested the suspect | Lineup not unduly suggestive; ID admissible |
| Ineffective assistance of counsel (multiple failures alleged: failure to move to suppress ID, impeach Flint, impeach Lachauda, call rebuttal witness, investigate/produce cellphone records, other trial omissions) | Counsel’s omissions deprived Heard of a fair trial and prejudiced outcome | Many alleged failures either would have failed, lacked record proffers, were strategic, or preserved no prejudice | Strickland not satisfied; counsel not ineffective on the asserted grounds |
| Evidentiary and jury instruction errors (admission/authentication of Flint videotape; limiting instruction; assault jury charge) | Trial court erred by admitting/using Flint’s video without limits and by not charging simple assault separately | Videotape authenticated by Flint’s testimony; no limiting instruction requested; aggravated assault instructions covered simple assault elements | No error: videotape authenticated; failure to request limiting instruction waived; assault charge adequate |
Key Cases Cited
- Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (standard for sufficiency of the evidence)
- Williams v. State, 290 Ga. 533 (2012) (test for unduly suggestive identification procedures)
- Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (ineffective assistance two-prong test)
- Romer v. State, 293 Ga. 339 (2013) (objective reasonableness of counsel’s performance)
- Durden v. State, 293 Ga. 89 (2013) (failure to make a meritless motion cannot be ineffective assistance)
- Goodwin v. Cruz-Padillo, 265 Ga. 614 (1995) (proffer required to show how missing witness would have affected outcome)
- Walthall v. State, 281 Ga. App. 434 (2006) (authentication standard for videotapes)