Appellant Alexander Graham III was found guilty of and sentenced for the malice murder of Derek Folston and for possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. 1 After reviewing the rec *697 ord and transcript in light of appellant’s enumeration of errors, we affirm the judgment of conviction entered against him.
1. The State presented evidence that the victim was shot in the thigh from more than two to three feet away and suffered a fatal bullet wound to his stomach when the gun was fired with its muzzle in contact with his clothing. A companion with the victim testified that the car in which he and the victim were driving suffered mechanical failure near midnight and the victim had steered it into a closed gas station, raised the hood, and was working on the engine when the witness heard shots fired and the victim scream. The witness saw the victim and a man he identified as appellant wrestling for possession of a gun, heard two more shots, and saw the victim fall to the ground. Appellant then drove away from the scene. The victim’s sister testified that appellant had driven by the Folston home six months earlier and had fired shots at the occupied house. According to the victim’s sister, two days after that incident, appellant had accosted the witness and her brother, pointed a gun at them, and threatened to kill them.
Appellant’s sister testified that the victim and two of his brothers had driven by the Graham home on the same day appellant had purportedly threatened the victim and his sister, and fired shots into that occupied home. Appellant testified that, the night the victim was killed, appellant was using a phone booth near the gas station when the victim drove by and stopped. Appellant saw the victim exit the car and, fearing the victim had a gun, appellant fired his gun twice at the victim in order to scare him. When appellant next looked back, the victim had reached him and grabbed the hand in which he was holding his gun. According to appellant, the two struggled over the gun and the gun went off two more times, resulting in the victim’s fatal wound.
The jury was instructed on the law of justification and “[w]hether the circumstances of the confrontation between the victim and appellant were such as to excite the fears of a reasonable person that he had to use deadly force in order to prevent the use of deadly force against him is a question for the jury.”
Andrews v. State,
2. Contending that the criteria of
Williams v. State,
3. Appellant next complains that the trial court erred when it refused to let him present evidence of specific acts of violence purportedly committed by the victim against third parties. The evidence of the victim’s acts of violence against third parties is admissible when the defendant claims justification, follows procedural requirements, establishes the existence of the prior violent acts by competent evidence, and makes a prima facie showing of justification.
Laster v. State,
4. Lastly, appellant asserts he is entitled to a new trial because a comment made during voir dire by a venire person who was subsequently excused for cause was allegedly inherently prejudicial and deprived appellant of his right to begin his trial with a jury free from even a suspicion of prejudgment or fixed opinion. See
Sharpe v. State,
Judgment affirmed.
Notes
The crimes occurred on December 13,1997, and appellant was arrested on January 1, *697 1998. The Chatham County grand jury returned a true bill of indictment against appellant on March 25, 1998, and he was tried before a jury on February 22-25, 1999. The jury returned its guilty verdicts on February 25, and appellant was sentenced on March 3 to life imprisonment for murder and a consecutive five-year sentence for the weapons conviction. Appellant filed a motion for new trial on February 26 and March 15, 1999, and an amended motion for new trial on September 5, 2000. The trial court denied the motion on June 29, 2001, and a timely notice of appeal was filed on July 9. The case was docketed in this Court on August 29 and submitted for decision on the briefs.