Thompson v. State, 320 Ga. App. 150

Thompson and five co-defendants were indicted for a home invasion involving three victims and later additional armed robberies; Thompson was convicted of multiple counts including aggravated assault, false imprisonment, armed robbery, burglary, drug possession with intent to distribute, and possession of a firearm during a felony, with a 40-year aggregate sentence.
Evidence showed the home invasion occurred around midnight; intruders kicked in a door, threatened victims at gunpoint, and stole a wallet and keys; later that night, three armed robberies occurred within 40 minutes; co-defendants implicated Thompson in providing guns and participating in the home invasion.
Several co-defendants pled guilty and testified, saying Thompson supplied weapons and participated; one accomplice testified Thompson drove to the scene in his car; Thompson and his fiancée testified he was home that night.
The defense argued accomplice testimony was uncorroborated and untrustworthy; the State argued multiple accomplices corroborated Thompson’s role; the jury weighed credibility and found Thompson guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
On appeal, Thompson challenged sufficiency of evidence, fatal variance between indictment and proof, improper impeachment foundation, and the prosecutor sitting in the witness chair during closing arguments; the court affirmed.
(Procedural posture and standard-of-review are implicit in each issue; the court applied Jackson v. Virginia and related Georgia standards).

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of the evidence	Thompson (State) argues evidence insufficient for non-drug counts	Thompson contends only accomplice testimony implicates him and lacks corroboration	Evidence sufficient to sustain convictions beyond reasonable doubt
Fatal variance between indictment and proof	Indictment misnames victims; variance not fatal if names refer to same person	Names differ; argues misidentification to negate identity	No fatal variance; names referred to the same victims; trial court did not err
Impeachment foundation for prior statements	State should have laid proper foundation before using prior statements	Impeachment allowed by former OCGA; testimony admissible as substantive evidence	No error; proper foundation and admissibility satisfied under former OCGA guidance
Prosecutor sitting in witness chair during closing	Prosecutor’s seating biased jury against Thompson	Closing argument discretion rests with judge; no manifest abuse	No reversible error; discretion affirmed

James v. State, 316 Ga. App. 406, 730 SE2d 20 (2012) (Ga. App. 2012) (accomplice testimony may be corroborated by other accomplices)
Harrison v. State, 192 Ga. App. 690, 691, 385 SE2d 774 (1989) (Ga. App. 1989) (variance between names not fatal if refers to same person)
Chapman v. State, 18 Ga. 736 (1855) (Ga. 1855) (identitate personae over identitate nominis; nickname/alias allowed)
Grayhouse v. State, 65 Ga. App. 853, 16 SE2d 787 (1941) (Ga. App. 1941) (prosecutor may participate in closing without reversible error)
Watkins v. State, 278 Ga. 414, 415, 603 SE2d 222 (2004) (Ga. 2004) (prosecutor closing argument addressing evidence within discretion)
Hanifa v. State, 269 Ga. 797, 808-809, 505 SE2d 731 (1998) (Ga. 1998) (accomplice testimony may be corroborated by other accomplices)