McKinney v. State
307 Ga. 129
Ga.2019Background
- Victim Deborah Thigpen was found beaten and asphyxiated behind an abandoned house on December 28, 2014; cause of death: blunt force trauma and asphyxia; death took minutes. DNA under her fingernails matched Sidney McKinney; fiber on her body matched a sweatshirt from McKinney’s dryer.
- Thigpen and McKinney had a history of abuse: March 2014 alleged rape/burglary (grand jury no-billed), September 2014 misdemeanor family-violence battery (McKinney pled guilty pro se), and a 1999 aggravated-assault-with-intent-to-rape conviction against a different ex-girlfriend.
- McKinney gave multiple, shifting accounts to police about his contact with Thigpen on December 27 and admitted variously to touching her; he had scratches and a bite mark on his hands.
- At trial the State admitted (a) a certified copy of McKinney’s September 2014 misdemeanor battery conviction and (b) testimony and certified conviction from the 1999 attack on a different ex-girlfriend under OCGA § 24-4-404(b).
- Jury convicted McKinney of malice murder and related counts; sentenced to life without parole. On appeal he challenged admission of the September 2014 conviction and the 1999-act evidence and argued ineffective assistance for failure to object to prosecutor statements characterizing him as a rapist.
Issues
| Issue | McKinney's Argument | State's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Admission of Sept. 2014 misdemeanor conviction (hearsay / Confrontation Clause) | Conviction (entered pro se; uncounseled misdemeanor not resulting in imprisonment) was inadmissible hearsay and violated Confrontation Clause | No controlling authority establishes inadmissibility; admission was cumulative and harmless | Reviewed for plain error; no clear error or prejudice shown — admission did not probably affect outcome; claim fails |
| Admission of 1999 assault conviction under OCGA § 24-4-404(b) (other-act evidence) | Evidence was prejudicial and temporally remote; similarities common to many attacks | Prior act probative for identity: distinctive similarities (both victims were ex-girlfriends, dragged into bushes, choked, attempted/removed clothing) | Trial court did not abuse discretion: evidence admissible to prove identity; probative value not substantially outweighed by prejudice |
| Ineffective assistance for failure to object to prosecutor’s references that McKinney raped Thigpen | Counsel was deficient for not objecting to prosecutor’s repeated rape characterizations; prejudice likely | Tactical decision: evidence of alleged rape had been admitted and prosecutor acknowledged grand jury no-bill; not objecting supported defense theory about rush to judgment | No deficient performance: decision not to object was reasonable trial strategy; Strickland prejudice not shown |
| Sufficiency of evidence to support malice murder | (not disputed) | State: overwhelming evidence (DNA, fibers, injuries, statements) | Court affirms: evidence sufficient under Jackson v. Virginia |
Key Cases Cited
- Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979) (standard for reviewing sufficiency of the evidence)
- Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) (ineffective-assistance-of-counsel standard)
- Nichols v. United States, 511 U.S. 738 (1994) (use of uncounseled misdemeanor plea in later proceedings)
- Nash v. State, 271 Ga. 281 (1999) (requirements for using prior pleas in recidivist sentencing)
- State v. Jefferson, 302 Ga. 435 (2017) (Confrontation Clause analysis when admitting others’ convictions)
- Jackson v. State, 306 Ga. 69 (2019) (use of OCGA § 24-1-103(d) plain-error framework and other-act analysis)
- Lupoe v. State, 300 Ga. 233 (2016) (plain error test explained)
- Brooks v. State, 298 Ga. 722 (2016) (analysis on use of other-act evidence to prove identity)
- Brannon v. State, 298 Ga. 601 (2016) (probative value of other-act evidence and need to overcome defense theory)
- Kirby v. State, 304 Ga. 472 (2018) (considerations weighing probative value vs. unfair prejudice under OCGA § 24-4-403)