Lead Opinion
Appellant Quinton Jones was found guilty of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, criminal attempt to commit armed robbery, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in connection with the shooting death of Lamaurice West-brook.
1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict, the evidence at trial showed that on June 13, 2011, the victim and his girlfriend picked up Tony Goolsby and some marijuana and went to a Shell gas station on Lakewood Avenue in Atlanta, Georgia, to meet with a buyer as part of a pre-arranged drug deal. Both the victim’s girlfriend and Goolsby testified that the victim was not carrying a gun. While they waited for the buyer to appear, Goolsby, who had the marijuana stashed in his pants, got nervous and left, walking from the Shell station to a Marathon gas station five blocks away Thereafter, an unidentified man driving a silver Pontiac pulled into the Shell station’s parking lot. Appellant, who was a passenger in the Pontiac, exited the vehicle and approached the victim. Following a discussion, the victim got in the front passenger seat of the Pontiac with appellant taking the back seat directly behind him. The group in
According to Goolsby, when he got in the back seat of the car next to appellant, he recognized appellant as someone he previously had been locked up with in the Fulton County jail.
A second witness also testified to hearing the shots, and stated that immediately thereafter she noticed a silver car pull into the parking lot of a mini-mart store and saw the victim’s body thrown from the passenger’s side of the vehicle before the car drove away The police, who arrived quickly at the scene, found no guns, drugs or money on or near the victim’s body. One of the responding officers testified that the mini-mart store where the victim’s body was found was located on Lakewood Avenue in Fulton County.
Appellant, who testified at trial on his own behalf, denied knowing the victim or Goolsby, claimed he was the one selling the drugs, and asserted it was the victim who pulled a gun on the driver of the Pontiac and that the gun went off during a struggle between the victim and the driver.
(a) Appellant argues that the evidence presented was insufficient to support his conviction under the federal due process standard. See Jackson v. Virginia,
It is a function of the jury, not the reviewing court, to resolve conflicts in the testimony, to weigh the evidence, and to draw reasonable inferences from the evidence. See Jackson v. Virginia,
(b) Appellant nonetheless characterizes the State’s evidence against him as circumstantial and insufficient to support his convictions for the crimes charged under Georgia law because it fails to exclude every other reasonable hypothesis save that of his guilt. See OCGA § 24-14-6.
Even assuming, arguendo, that the evidence against appellant with respect to the murder charges was entirely circumstantial because no witness testified to actually seeing him shoot the victim, we conclude that the circumstantial evidence presented was sufficient for the jury to reject as unreasonable any other theory save that of appellant’s guilt with respect to these charges. See Clark v. State,
The jury in this case was properly instructed on direct and circumstantial evidence, as well as on the requirements of OCGA § 24-14-6. Given the evidence presented, the jury was authorized to exclude every reasonable explanation save that of appellant’s guilt, and its findings will not be disturbed by this Court. See Clark,
2. Although not raised by the State on appeal, we find that the trial court erred in merging appellant’s convictions on certain counts of the indictment for judgment and sentencing. See Brannon v. State,
We find that appellant’s conviction for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon (Count 3) merges as a matter of fact into appellant’s
3. Appellant argues the State failed to prove venue beyond a reasonable doubt asserting that the murder which formed the basis for the charges against him took place in a moving car and claiming the State failed to provide sufficient evidence of the car’s location at the time the victim was killed. Venue isa jurisdictional fact that must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in every criminal trial. See Crawford v. State,
At trial, the State provided evidence that the mini-mart parking lot where the victim’s body was dumped was in Fulton County. The evidence shows that the victim was shot in a car which immediately thereafter pulled into the mini-mart parking lot, where the body was dumped. A woman who testified to witnessing the victim’s body being “thrown out the car” stated that she heard the gunshots and saw the car pull up “real fast” into the parking lot. When asked how long it was from the time she heard the shots to the time she saw the car pull up and dump the victim, the witness responded, “[I]t was close. It was real close.”
To meet its burden of establishing venue, the State may use both direct and circumstantial evidence. See Lindsey v. State,
4. Appellant contends the trial court erred in admitting evidence of appellant’s guilty pleas to two prior armed robberies for the purpose of showing motive and intent.
In deciding the admissibility of evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts committed by a defendant, this Court has determined that Rule 404 (b) of Georgia’s new Evidence Code
requires that the admitting court find (1) the evidence is relevant to an issue in the case other than the defendant’s character, (2) the probative value is not substantially outweighed by undue prejudice, and (3) there is sufficient proof for a jury to find by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant committed the prior act.
Brannon,
Although relevant evidence may be excluded where its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, see OCGA § 24-4-403, a trial court’s decision to exclude or admit other acts evidence will be overturned only where there is a clear abuse of discretion. See Bradshaw,
5. Finally, appellant asserts the trial court erred in refusing to grant his motion for new trial based on his claim that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. To prevail on a claim of ineffectiveness, appellant must show both that counsel’s performance was deficient and that the deficient performance was prejudicial to his defense. Strickland v. Washington,
As previously found by this Court in Division 4, supra, the trial court properly admitted the evidence of appellant’s prior guilty pleas;
Judgment affirmed in part and vacated in part, and case remanded for resentencing.
Notes
The crimes occurred on June 13, 2011. Appellant was indicted by a Fulton County grand jury on July 13, 2012, on charges of malice murder, felony murder (four counts), aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit a crime, criminal attempt to commit armed robbery, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Subsequently, the conspiracy to commit a crime count and the corresponding felony murder count were dead docketed. Following a jury trial March 25-28, 2013, appellant was found guilty on the remaining eight counts. Upon receipt of the jury’s verdict, the trial court sentenced appellant to life without the possibility of parole on the malice murder count and an additional five years consecutive for possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. As further discussed in Division 2, infra, the trial court determined that each of the three remaining felony counts merged into the remaining felony murder counts, which then merged into the malice murder count for sentencing purposes. Appellant filed a motion for new trial on April 2, 2013, which he amended on May 19, 2014. The trial court heard argument on appellant’s motion on August 6, 2014 and denied it by order entered August 11, 2014. Appellant filed a notice of appeal on August 19, 2014 and the appeal was docketed in this Court for the January 2016 term and submitted for a decision on the briefs.
The victim’s girlfriend also testified that when appellant first approached her car at the Shell station to talk to the victim, she recognized him as a person from her old neighborhood named “Quinton.”
OCGA § 24-14-6 provides:
To warrant a conviction on circumstantial evidence, the proved facts shall not only be consistent with the hypothesis of guilt, but shall exclude every other reasonable hypothesis save that of the guilt of the accused.
Given the trial court’s definitive ruling prior to trial that evidence of appellant’s two prior guilty pleas would be admissible, appellant was not required to renew his objection or offer of proof in order to preserve this claim of error for appeal. See Anthony v. State,
Although appellant was initially charged with armed robbery in the prior incidents, he entered a negotiated plea in each to aggravated assault. The evidence as admitted establishes that in one case appellant robbed a victim he met through the victim’s cousin under the pretext of selling the victim a car, and in the other case, appellant used a gun to rob two women - at least one of whom appellant knew - while they sat in a car.
Because the evidence was admissible as to intent, we need not determine whether it was also admissible to show motive. See Bradshaw,
Concurrence Opinion
concurring.
I join the Court’s opinion in full, including its holding in Division 3 that the jury could find proper venue for the murder in Fulton County based on the testimony that the fatal shooting occurred in a moving car that was close to — but not already in — the parking lot in Fulton County where the victim’s body was dumped. The Court does not explain how it reconciles that conclusion with Jones v. State,