Olds v. State

• Decision Date: 23 May 2016
• Docket Number: No. S15G1610.,S15G1610.
• Citation: 786 S.E.2d 633,299 Ga. 65
• Parties: OLDS v. The STATE.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

299 Ga. 65

786 S.E.2d 633

OLDS

v.The STATE.

No. S15G1610.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

May 23, 2016.

Charles Edward Arnold, Jr., Jeffrey Locke Lee, Jr., Albany, for appellant.

Gregory W. Edwards, Dist. Atty., Heather Hendricks Lanier, Asst. Dist. Atty., for appellee.

D. Victor Reynolds, Dist. Atty., Michael Scott Carlson, John Stuart Melvin, Donald Paul Geary, John Richard Edwards, Asst. Dist. Attys., amici curiae.

BLACKWELL

, Justice.

Vashon Olds was tried by a Dougherty County jury and convicted of the false imprisonment¹ and battery² of a woman with whom he previously had a romantic relationship. At trial, the jury heard evidence of these crimes, as well as evidence of two incidents in which Olds had assaulted other women. The prosecution offered the evidence of these other incidents to show criminal intent, among other things, and the trial court admitted it under OCGA § 24–4–404(b)

(“Rule 404(b)”), which provides in pertinent part:

Evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts shall not be admissible to prove the character of a person in order to show action in conformity therewith. It may, however, be admissible for other purposes, including, but not limited to, proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident....

Contending that the trial court abused its discretion when it admitted the evidence of the other incidents, Olds appealed. The Court of Appeals, however, rejected that contention and affirmed. See Olds v. State, 332 Ga.App. 612, 774 S.E.2d 186 (2015)

. In doing so, the Court of Appeals relied extensively on Bradshaw v. State, 296 Ga. 650, 769 S.E.2d 892 (2015), a case in which this Court considered the admissibility of evidence offered under Rule 404(b) to prove intent. We issued a writ of certiorari in this case to review the decision of the Court of Appeals, and we now conclude that a clarification of Bradshaw is in order. Accordingly, we vacate the decision of the Court of Appeals, and we remand for the Court of Appeals to reconsider in light of that clarification.

1. In its opinion below, the Court of Appeals set forth the facts of this case as follows:

Viewed in the light most favorable to Olds's convictions, the evidence shows that Olds was a close family friend of the victim, and they were briefly involved in a romantic relationship. In February 2009, the victim moved to Albany to attend college, and she contacted Olds about possibly living in his trailer. The victim and Olds agreed that the victim and her son would move in with Olds, and the victim would pay for half of the utilities. The victim and her son each had their own room[,] and they had their own bathroom that they shared. The victim told Olds that they would not be resuming their prior romantic relationship, and Olds confirmed that he understood.

Shortly after the victim moved in, she and her [new] boyfriend were sitting in a car outside of her grandmother's house when Olds pulled up behind their vehicle, got out of his car, and told the victim's boyfriend that she was “his lady.” Olds subsequently apologized for his behavior, and the victim returned to the trailer.

The next day, the victim told Olds that she was going out of town. She got into her car, intending to leave, but then realized that she had forgotten her son's jacket in the trailer. The victim went inside the trailer and, as she walked into her bedroom, Olds followed her. When the victim asked Olds what he was doing, he responded that he was getting ready to take out the trash. The victim then walked down the hallway, and Olds jumped her from behind, while holding a white tie in his hand. The victim put her arms up to keep the tie away from her neck and avoid being choked.

The victim begged Olds to let her go, but he told her[,] “you're not going anywhere,” and he pushed her onto a chair in his bedroom. Olds then tied up the victim, picked her up and threw her on the bed. When the victim again begged him to stop, Olds got on top of her and told her that[,] if she cooperated and shut up, “it'll be over with.” Olds began to unbutton and unzip the victim's pants. The victim screamed, and Olds put his hands over the victim's nose and mouth so that she could not breathe.

Olds then duct taped the victim's mouth. When she removed the tape, he told her that[,] if she screamed, he was going to kill her. Olds also told the victim that he was going to kill himself because he was “not going back to prison.” When the victim continued to plead with Olds, he turned her over and sat her up on the edge of the bed. The victim continued to talk to Olds to calm him down, because she was afraid that he would kill her.

After about 30 minutes, Olds untied one of the victim's ties, and picked up a long blade from a tray beside his bed. The victim was afraid Olds was going to cut her so she told him to stop and asked him for some water. At that point, the victim received a phone call from her grandmother; Olds had a brief conversation with the victim's grandmother; and after the phone call, the victim begged Olds to let her go. Olds picked up the blade and began to cut the ties off the victim's arms and stomach.

Once free, the victim continued to talk to Olds, telling him that she forgave him, and they could “work it out.” Eventually, the victim asked Olds to walk her to the car, which he did, after she told him that she would return. The victim drove down the street, flagged down a police officer about a minute later[,] and told the officer what had happened.

332 Ga.App. at 612–613, 774 S.E.2d 186

(footnote omitted).

The Court of Appeals also detailed the evidence concerning the other women that was admitted under Rule 404(b). The first incident involved an assault upon a woman who had been—like the victim in this case—involved romantically with Olds:

T.H. testified that, in June 1999, Olds called her, told her she had forgotten something at his house[,] and said he would come over to return the item. When Olds arrived, T.H. was in the kitchen cooking. Olds came up behind T.H. with a knife, told T.H. that he was not leaving, said if he could not have her, then nobody else would, and then cut T.H.'s chin. T.H. yelled for her kids to run out of the house and struggled with Olds before running to a neighbor's house.

332 Ga.App. at 613–614, 774 S.E.2d 186

. The second incident involved a sexual assault upon a woman with whom Olds was acquainted more casually:

[K.B.] testified that, in August 2012, Olds drove her to Walmart to buy a part for her mother's car, which he was repairing. After buying the part, Olds and K.B. headed back to her house when Olds suddenly took a detour, saying that he needed to go home to grab a missing part. When they arrived at Olds's home, he told K.B. that she could not stay in his car, so she followed him up to his room. After looking around, Olds told K.B. that he could not find the missing part, so K.B. turned toward the door to leave. Olds grabbed K.B. from behind and threw her onto the bed. Olds then forcibly held K.B. down, pulled down her shorts and underwear[,] and placed his tongue on her vagina.

K.B. told Olds to stop and tried to push him away, but he refused to stop, and he then tried to insert his penis into her vagina. When K.B. grabbed Olds's penis and scratched his leg and back, Olds got off of her. After Olds drove K.B. home, she told her mother what had happened, and her mother immediately called the police.

Id. at 614, 774 S.E.2d 186

.

The trial court admitted the evidence concerning the other women for several purposes, including to prove criminal intent.³ On appeal, Olds asserted that the evidence was not properly admitted for any of these purposes. As for intent, Olds argued that his intent was never really at issue, noting that his defense at trial principally was that the incident described by the victim in this case never happened. See 332 Ga.App. at 615, 774 S.E.2d 186

. Relying extensively on our decision in Bradshaw, the Court of Appeals held that Olds put intent at issue simply by pleading not guilty, see id., and the evidence of the other incidents was relevant because the other incidents involved the same sort of criminal intent as the crimes with which Olds was charged in this case, namely, an “intent to harm women he knew by attacking them from behind.” Id. at 616, 774 S.E.2d 186

. The Court of Appeals found that “the probative value of evidence of the extrinsic acts was not substantially outweighed by its prejudicial effect,” and it found as well that the evidence adequately tied Olds to those prior incidents.⁴ Id. The Court of Appeals concluded, therefore, that the evidence was properly admitted to show criminal intent. Id.

2. Five years ago, our General Assembly enacted a new Evidence Code,⁵ of which Rule 404(b) is a part. Many provisions of the new Evidence Code were borrowed from the Federal Rules of Evidence, and when we consider the meaning of these provisions, we look to decisions of the federal appellate courts construing and applying the Federal Rules, especially the decisions of the United States Supreme Court and the Eleventh Circuit. See State v. Frost, 297 Ga. 296, 299, 773 S.E.2d 700 (2015)

. Rule 404(b) is one such provision, see State v. Jones, 297 Ga. 156, 158(1), 773 S.E.2d 170 (2015), and so, when we have considered the meaning of Rule 404(b), we consistently have looked for guidance in the decisions of the federal appellate courts construing and applying Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b). See, e.g., Brooks v. State, 298 Ga. 722, 724(2), 783 S.E.2d 895 (2016) ; Brannon v. State, 298 Ga. 601, 606–608(4), 783 S.E.2d 642 (2016) ; Jones, 297 Ga. at 158–160 (1), (2), 163–164(3), 773 S.E.2d 170 ; Bradshaw, 296 Ga. at 656–658(3), 769 S.E.2d 892.

Borrowing from the decisional law of the federal appellate courts, we have identified three general requirements for the admission of evidence of other acts under Rule 404(b)

. First, such evidence must be relevant to some issue other than...