Tyner v. StateTyner v. State
This case marks Appellant Curtis Tyner‘s second appearance before this Court. In 2011, we reversed Tyner‘s 1984 conviction pursuant to a guilty plea for malice murder in connection with the death of Martha Mickel. See Tyner v. State, 289 Ga. 592 (714 SE2d 577) (2011) (overruled on other grounds by Lejeune v. McLaughlin, 296 Ga. 291 (766 SE2d 803) (2014)). Following a trial, Tyner was again convicted of malice murder and sentenced to life in prison.1 On appeal, Tyner contends that the trial court erred in allowing certain
Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the trial evidence showed the following. On April 15, 1984, the body of Martha Mickel was found in Bear Creek in southwest Fulton County; Mickel was reported missing the day prior. The buttons on Mickel‘s blouse were either missing or
Thereafter, police attempted to make contact with Tyner, visiting his home several times; when no one answered the door, police set up surveillance of his home. During the surveillance period, police knocked on the door on multiple occasions, and, while they observed movement within the home, no one answered the door. On the morning of April 18, one of Tyner‘s roommates
On April 18, 1984, police conducted an approximately three-hour interview with Tyner, following which Tyner signed a typed statement. Tyner stated that, sometime after midnight on April 15, 1984, he drove from his home in south Fulton County to Smyrna. There, he went to a gas station down the street from Mickel‘s home for a cup of coffee and then returned to his car to smoke cigarettes.3 He next recalled driving south on Interstate 285 and looking over to see Mickel sitting in the passenger seat, her hands bound and a rope around her neck securing her to the passenger-seat headrest. Tyner then exited the interstate and made several turns, at which point he came to a bridge from which he threw Mickel‘s purse. A couple of miles later, he came to another bridge from which he threw Mickel. During a subsequent interview, Tyner again stated that he did not recall how Mickel got in his car. He recalled only that he “came to or became aware of her presence in his car.” Tyner also told
At trial, the trial court allowed Mickel‘s close friend Crystal Haberkorn to testify about statements Mickel made to her in the weeks before her death. Haberkorn and Mickel attended the same church, saw each other every week, spoke during the week, and confided their personal feelings to one another. Haberkorn testified that, while Tyner was in the process of painting Mickel‘s home, Mickel expressed concern that Tyner had taken a spare key from a desk drawer in her home. Some time later, Mickel told Haberkorn that the key had been replaced or returned.
The jury also heard the testimony of retired Fulton County Police Detective John Lines. Lines testified that, on April 16, 1984, he and Sergeant Edwin Clack traveled together to Mickel‘s residence where Lines went inside while Clack searched the residence‘s curtilage. After their search, Clack presented Lines with items “found on the front porch,” including a piece of rope and five Belair-brand cigarettes. Lines also testified that he and Sergeant W. R. Killian, who is now deceased, were dispatched to the bridge from which Tyner threw Mickel‘s purse. There, Killian recovered the purse several hundred yards downstream from the bridge where the current had taken it.
The medical examiner testified that burst capillaries on Mickel‘s face found during her autopsy indicated she was strangled by a ligature. His autopsy also showed that Mickel was alive and breathing when she was thrown into the water and that her cause of death was drowning in combination with ligature strangulation.
1. Tyner does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence recounted above to support his convictions. Nevertheless, as is our practice in murder cases, we have independently reviewed the record and conclude that the evidence adduced at trial was legally sufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Tyner committed the crimes of which he was found guilty. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307, 319 (99 SCt 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979).
2. Tyner contends that the trial court erred by admitting into evidence the statements Mickel made to Haberkorn regarding the missing key. We disagree.
A statement not specifically covered by any law but having equivalent circumstantial guarantees of trustworthiness shall not be excluded by the hearsay rule, if the court determines that: (1) The statement is offered as evidence of a material fact; (2) The statement is more probative on the point for which it is offered than any other evidence which the proponent can procure through reasonable efforts; and (3) The general purposes of the rules of evidence and the interests of justice will best be served by admission of the statement into evidence. . . .
The State offered the statements at issue as an explanation for the lack of evidence of forced entry to Mickel‘s home. Tyner does not argue that the statements were not offered as evidence of a material fact or that the State, through reasonable efforts, could have procured more probative evidence on this point. Instead, Tyner limits his argument to attacking the statements’ factual value and their “guarantees of trustworthiness.” Specifically, Tyner cites this Court‘s recent decision in Jacobs v. State, 303 Ga. 245 (2) (811 SE2d 372) (2018), and argues that the trial court erroneously relied on Haberkorn and Mickel‘s “close relationship” as evidence of Haberkorn‘s credibility.
We review the trial court‘s admission of this evidence for abuse of discretion. Jacobs, 303 Ga. at 250. In Jacobs, we explained that statements
Contrary to Tyner‘s assertion, the trial court did not predicate admission of Haberkorn‘s testimony on her credibility as a witness. Instead, as in Jacobs, the trial court considered the circumstances under which Mickel‘s statements to Haberkorn were made: within the confines of their close friendship. We find the trial court‘s reasoning persuasive: “[Mickel and Haberkorn] knew each other for some time. . . . [T]hey had a trusting relationship. . . . There would be no reason — and the defense had proffered no alternate reason — why Mickel would have [told Haberkorn about the missing key] except that she was
3. Tyner next argues that the trial court violated the rule against hearsay by admitting, over Tyner‘s objection, Detective Lines’ testimony concerning the evidence recovered by Sergeant Clack at Mickel‘s residence. Specifically, Tyner takes issue with Lines’ testimony that Sergeant Clack turned over a piece of rope and five Belair-brand cigarette butts “found on the front porch.”
However, it is not necessary to consider whether the admission of this evidence was error because, pretermitting whether the statement was hearsay, any error in admitting it was harmless. See Perez v. State, 303 Ga. 188, 190-191 (2) (811 SE2d 331) (2018). Indeed, overwhelming evidence supported Tyner‘s conviction, not least of which was Tyner‘s statement to police in which he confessed to throwing the unconscious Mickel from a bridge into the creek in which she ultimately drowned. As such, “it is highly probable that the admission of [Lines’ testimony] did not contribute to the verdict.” Id. at 191 (2).
To show plain error, [Tyner] must point to an error that was not affirmatively waived, the error must have been clear and not open to reasonable dispute, the error must have affected his substantial rights, and the error must have seriously affected the fairness, integrity or public reputation of judicial proceedings.
(Citation and punctuation omitted.) Lupoe v. State, 300 Ga. 233, 243 (4) (794 SE2d 67) (2016).
Assuming that this is a cognizable hearsay argument and that the trial court‘s permitting the admission of this testimony was erroneous,4 Tyner must also demonstrate that the error affected his substantial rights or, in other words,
5. Next, Tyner argues that the trial court erred in admitting unspecified evidence regarding the charge of robbery by force, which stemmed from the taking of Mickel‘s purse and which the trial court later found to be time barred. Tyner did not object at trial to the introduction of this evidence. On appeal, Tyner makes no challenge as to the evidence‘s relevancy. Rather, he characterizes the evidence regarding the taking of Mickel‘s purse as “extrinsic acts” evidence and contends that, because it was offered only to demonstrate his propensity for criminal activity, it was thus prohibited by
Essentially, and without pointing to any specific evidence that he claims should have been excluded, Tyner contends that evidence related to the robbery by force charge should not have been heard by the jury because the trial court later found that this count was time-barred. But, in any event, Tyner has not
Evidence pertaining to the chain of events explaining the context, motive, and set-up of the crime, is properly admitted if it is linked in time and circumstances with the charged crime, or forms an integral and natural part of an account of the crime, or is necessary to complete the story of the crime for the jury. Evidence of other acts is “inextricably intertwined” with the evidence regarding the charged offense if it forms an integral and natural part of the witness‘s accounts of the circumstances surrounding the offenses for which the defendant was indicted. And this sort of intrinsic evidence remains admissible even if it incidentally places the defendant‘s character at issue.
(Citation and punctuation omitted.) Smith v. State, 302 Ga. 717, 725 (4) (808 SE2d 661) (2017). As discussed above, Tyner admitted to police that, in quick succession, he threw Mickel‘s purse, the ropes with which Mickel was bound, and Mickel herself from his car. Any evidence regarding the taking of Mickel‘s purse was thus “linked in time and circumstances with the charged crime” and was properly admitted with respect to the non-time-barred charges.
6. Having found the evidence sufficient to sustain Tyner‘s convictions and concluded that his other enumerations of error are without merit, we now turn to his contention that the trial court erroneously merged his felony murder counts with the malice murder count. Instead, as Tyner correctly asserts, any felony murder conviction here would be vacated by operation of law. See
Finally, it appears that the trial court should have separately sentenced Tyner for kidnapping with bodily injury and aggravated assault with intent to rape. However, “when a merger error benefits a defendant and the State fails to raise it by cross-appeal,” we generally do not correct the error. Dixon v. State, 302 Ga. 691, 698 (808 SE2d 696) (2017). Accordingly, we decline to do so here.
Judgment affirmed. All the Justices concur.