Rogers v. State, 289 Ga. 675

On October 13, 2008, Rogers and others watched a group of men playing checkers; the victim Clayton Carter approached Rogers to buy drugs but was refused due to unpaid debt, leading to a heated argument.
The victim left to retrieve a .38 revolver, returned, fired shots into the air, and Rogers called someone on his cell phone to bring a gun.
Rogers was later seen approaching the victim's residence with hands concealed in his jacket; he circled the residence and then left; a gunshot was later heard near the residence and a car fled the scene with Rogers reportedly in the back seat.
Mary Alice Rawls found Carter fatally shot in the neck; the bullet was a .40 caliber, incompatible with the revolver Carter carried earlier in the day.
A jury found Rogers guilty of malice murder, burglary, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon; sentences included life for malice murder and concurrent terms for the other offenses.
Rogers timely appealed, challenging the jury instruction on involuntary manslaughter, the admissibility of his custodial statements, and urging sufficiency challenges.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of the evidence	Rogers argues the evidence does not support malice murder.	State contends the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, supports all convictions.	Evidence sufficient to sustain verdicts.
Requirement to give involuntary manslaughter instruction	Edwards v. State mandate for lesser-included offense instruction where any evidence supports it.	Trial court properly refused; no reversible error given overwhelming contrary evidence.	Erroneous but harmless to withhold instruction.
Admissibility of custodial statements	Statements were involuntary due to hope of benefit from police; should be excluded.	Statement encouragement to tell truth does not constitute a hope of benefit under OCGA § 24-3-50.	Statements admissible; no reversible error.

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (U.S. 1979) (sufficiency standard for criminal evidence)
Edwards v. State, 264 Ga. 131, 442 S.E.2d 444 (Ga. 1994) (must charge lesser-included offenses when any evidence supports them)
Rhode v. State, 274 Ga. 377, 552 S.E.2d 855 (Ga. 2001) (harmless-error analysis when misinstruction)
Braley v. State, 276 Ga. 47, 572 S.E.2d 583 (Ga. 2002) (instructional error standards)
Loren v. State, 268 Ga. 792, 493 S.E.2d 175 (Ga. 1997) (review of trial court instructions and harmless error)
Lee v. State, 270 Ga. 798, 514 S.E.2d 1 (Ga. 1999) (clarifies that exhortations to tell the truth are notHope-of-benefit)
Wilson v. State, 285 Ga. 224, 675 S.E.2d 11 (Ga. 2009) (application of voluntariness standard under OCGA 24-3-50)
Stringer v. State, 285 Ga. 842, 684 S.E.2d 590 (Ga. 2009) (voluntariness considerations)
Mangrum v. State, 285 Ga. 676, 681 S.E.2d 130 (Ga. 2009) (voluntariness and confession law)
Pittman v. State, 277 Ga. 475, 592 S.E.2d 72 (Ga. 2004) (confession standards and coercion)
Gilliam v. State, 268 Ga. 690, 492 S.E.2d 185 (Ga. 1997) (interpretation of voluntariness in confessions)