Jamin Thomas Welker was convicted of the felony murder of Steven Wayne Phillips, the aggravated assault of Wesley Stubblefield, and possession of a firearm during the commission of crimes.
1. The jury was authorized to find that appellant and the murder victim had a history of animosity, with appellant at one time firing a gun in the direction of a car in which the victim was seated. On January 31, 1998, a few days after the murder victim moved into a trailer where appellant Welker’s ex-girlfriend, Tracy Dixon, was living with Cynthia Fleming and Allen Stubblefield, appellant sent Dixon three threatening telephone pages. In response to a demand in one page, Dixon phoned appellant, who told her to leave Fleming’s trailer because he intended to “shoot it up.” Appellant agreed not to attack the trailer only if Dixon could get three men, including the murder victim, to meet him at the corner for a fight. Dixon told Fleming of the threat and then walked to appellant’s residence to reason with him. The murder victim, Stubblefield and his brother, Wesley Stub
This evidence was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find appellant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes for which he was convicted. Jackson v. Virginia,
2. In a pretrial hearing conducted on appellant’s notice of intent to present evidence of acts of violence by the victim toward appellant and third parties, appellant presented testimony regarding six incidents, including one in which the witness testified that he had untruthfully told the police the victim had pistol whipped appellant. There was also discussion about whether the victim had threatened to pistol whip an unidentified person. None of the evidence introduced by appellant at the hearing reflected that the pistol whipping threat was directed at appellant, reflected the victim’s attitude towards appellant, or had been communicated to appellant. The trial court entered its ruling at the start of the trial excluding evidence regarding this particular threat and no objection was made to the ruling. During trial, one of the eyewitnesses to the crimes testified that appellant had taunted the victim with the statement “oh you pistol whip me with my own gun?” This testimony indicated appellant was aware of the threat. Despite the introduction of this testimony, appellant did not seek reconsideration of the trial court’s earlier ruling regarding the exclusion of the pistol whipping threat and did not attempt to introduce evidence regarding that threat.
Appellant now contends that exclusion of the pistol whipping threat constituted reversible error because the evidence was admissible under Dixon v. State,
4. The trial court’s charge on justification fairly covered all the applicable principles. The failure to give appellant’s charge thus was not error. See Christopher v. State,
5. We find no reversible error in the trial court’s charging the jury on the entire Code section on aggravated assault. There was no evidence from which the jury could have found that appellant committed an aggravated assault on Wesley Stubblefield with the intent to murder, rob or rape him. Thus, the jury could not have been misled by the charge and appellant’s due process rights were not violated. See Dukes v. State,
6. Contrary to appellant’s argument, nothing in Edge v. State,
Judgment affirmed.
Notes
The crimes occurred on January 31, 1998. Welker was indicted March 17, 1998 in Richmond County on charges of murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. He was found guilty of felony murder, aggravated assault, and the possession charge on December 17, 1998 and on February 12, 1999 was sentenced to life imprisonment and consecutive twenty year and five year sentences on the aggravated assault and five years on the possession charges. His motion for new trial, filed February 26,1999, was denied by order filed June 26,1999. A notice of appeal was filed June 30,1999. The appeal was docketed July 21, 2000 and was submitted for decision on the briefs.