Russell v. State, 293 Ga. 526

Victim Windy Russell was shot in the head at home on April 8, 2007; her husband Gregory John Russell was found kneeling over her with a handgun and made inculpatory statements at the scene and at the station.
Witnesses (Andy and Rhonda Pack, a neighbor) immediately saw Russell with the gun and heard him claim God told him to punish Windy; Andy disarmed and restrained him until police arrived.
At the station Russell said, “I did it, didn’t I?” and asked an officer to shoot him; he did not suggest Windy committed suicide. A recent letter from Windy showed she was happy in the relationship.
Indicted for malice murder, felony murder (aggravated assault), and possession of a firearm during a crime; jury convicted on felony murder and firearm count, deadlocked on malice murder (mistrial on that count). Sentence: life + 5 years; malice count nolle prossed.
Posttrial issues: sufficiency of evidence (claim of possible suicide), trial court communications with jury outside defendant’s presence, and alleged improper contact between a state witness (detective) and jurors.

Issue	Russell's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of the evidence	Evidence was circumstantial and could support suicide theory; convictions unsupported	Inculpatory statements and eyewitness observations amount to direct evidence supporting guilt	Convictions affirmed; evidence sufficient beyond reasonable doubt (Jackson v. Virginia)
Court communications before closings	Judge spoke to jury outside defendant’s presence before closings, violating right to be present	Communication addressed jury convenience; defense counsel agreed and no contemporaneous objection	No violation; matter concerned jury convenience and defense acquiesced (Pennie; Heywood)
Court answer to jury question during deliberations	Judge entered jury room/communicated outside defendant’s presence, denying presence at critical stage	Court read question in open court, both sides agreed on answer, no objection	No error; parties agreed and defendant acquiesced (Heywood)
Contact between state witness and jurors	Detective conversed with jurors during break, creating presumption of prejudice requiring mistrial	Juror and detective sworn testimony showed no case discussion and no impartiality affected; contact inconsequential	No mistrial required; presumption rebutted and contact harmless beyond reasonable doubt (Collins; Clements)

Daniel v. State, 285 Ga. 406 (direct inculpatory statements constitute direct evidence)
Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (standard for sufficiency of the evidence)
Pennie v. State, 271 Ga. 419 (court communications about jury convenience do not violate presence right)
Heywood v. State, 292 Ga. 771 (acquiescence to bench actions waives claim of absence)
Collins v. State, 290 Ga. 505 (presumption of prejudice from juror contact; State must rebut)
State v. Clements, 289 Ga. 640 (improper but inconsequential communications may be harmless)