William Henry Daniels appeals his conviction for the felony murder of Anthony Sharpe. For the reasons that follow, we affirm. 1
Construed to support the verdicts, the evidence showed that Daniels was married to Lois McBurroughs. She was seated in a *350 tavern with Sharpe, near the door to the outside. Daniels entered, spoke to McBurroughs about leaving, exchanged some heated words with Sharpe, and produced a knife from his pocket. He and Sharpe grappled with one another and quickly went outside. Daniels made several swiping or swinging motions with his hand and the men fell to the ground. Sharpe arose, saying he did not want to fight Daniels. Sharpe then said that Daniels had “cut” him. Other persons placed Sharpe in an automobile to be taken to a hospital. While en route, Sharpe said that he did not want to die, asked why this had happened to him, and stated he had done nothing wrong. He died from a stab wound to the heart.
After the stabbing, Daniels gave the knife to a relative, who told him to run, which Daniels did, leaving the scene. He passed another relative and told her that he thought he had “cut” someone. He went to the home of yet another relative and told her that he had argued with McBurroughs about leaving the tavern, had gotten into a fight with someone there, and stabbed him.
Daniels testified at trial. Although some of his testimony was inconsistent, he said that: he entered the tavern and requested McBurroughs leave with him; he became angry with Sharpe when Sharpe said McBurroughs did not want “to be bothered” by Daniels; Sharpe jumped up, scaring and panicking Daniels; he did not see Sharpe with any weapon and did not know if Sharpe had anything in his hands or pockets; Sharpe jumped on Daniels and the men grappled and went out the door; he did not know how Sharpe got stabbed; he did not “wave” the knife; a relative had to pry the knife from his hand; and he walked away. Daniels also denied telling his relatives that he had stabbed a man, and contended that he did not know that Sharpe had been stabbed until he was arrested. However, he also testified that he saw blood at the scene of the stabbing, and afterward on his clothes.
1. The jury was instructed on the law of malice murder, voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, mutual combat, self-defense justification, aggravated assault, and felony murder. The jury was not required to accept Daniels’s trial testimony as true, but could judge his credibility and weigh his testimony against other evidence.
Miller v. State,
2. Daniels asserts that the trial court erred in allowing the State to play for the jury an audiotape of an interview investigating police officers conducted with McBurroughs five days after the stabbing. The State called McBurroughs to testify. During questioning, she
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stated that she considered herself to be Daniels’s common law wife.
2
After further questioning outside the presence of the jury, the trial court ruled that McBurroughs had been the common law wife of Daniels since 1996. See OCGA§ 19-3-1.1. McBurroughs asserted her marital privilege against testifying. See OCGA § 24-9-23. The State moved to play the tape of the recorded interview under the necessity exception to the bar against hearsay testimony. See OCGA § 24-3-1 (b);
Parks v. State,
The opinion of the United States Supreme Court in
Crawford v. Washington,
Nonetheless, admission of this type of evidence will be deemed harmless if there is no reasonable possibility that it contributed to a guilty verdict.
Yancey v. State,
There is no reasonable possibility that playing the audiotape of McBurroughs’s interview contributed to the jury’s verdicts. Yancey, supra.
Judgment affirmed.
Notes
Sharpe was killed on June 30,2001. On September 18,2001, a Colquitt County grand jury indicted Daniels for malice murder, felony murder while in the commission of aggravated assault, and aggravated assault. Daniels was triedbefore a jury December 3-6,2001, and found guilty of felony murder and aggravated assault; he was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter as a lesser included offense of malice murder. On December 13, 2001, Daniels was sentenced to life in prison for felony murder; involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault merged with the felony murder conviction. See
Malcolm v. State,
She had not yet testified about the stabbing or events leading to it.
No transcript of the interview was provided to the jury. During deliberation, the jury twice requested that the tape be played again.