Beasley v. State

• Decision Date: 13 July 1998
• Docket Number: No. S98A0265.,S98A0265.
• Parties: BEASLEY v. The STATE.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

502 S.E.2d 235

269 Ga. 620

BEASLEY v. The STATE.

No. S98A0265.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

July 13, 1998.

Reconsideration Denied July 30, 1998.

M. Francis Stubbs, Stubbs & Associates, Reidsville, Alan P. Layne, Layne & Layne, Lyons, for Ronnie Jack Beasley, Jr.

Richard A. Malone, Dist. Atty., Swainsboro, Deborah Lynn Gale, Asst. Atty. Gen., Paula K. Smith, Senior Asst. Atty. Gen., Department of Law, Atlanta, for the State. THOMPSON, Justice.

Ronnie Jack Beasley, Jr., was convicted of malice murder, armed robbery and theft by taking a motor vehicle in connection with the death of Olin Miller.¹ Although the State sought the death penalty for Beasley's role in the crimes, the jury fixed his sentence at life without parole. Beasley appeals asserting, inter alia, that the trial court erred in permitting a movie, "Natural Born Killers," to be admitted into evidence and shown to the jury. Finding no reversible error, we affirm.

Viewed in a light favorable to the verdict, we find the following: Beasley lived in a trailer in Toombs County with Angela Crosby, his girlfriend.² On the day in question, Crosby enticed the victim, Olin Miller, to the trailer to rob him and steal his truck. Beasley, Shayne Courson and Jason Walsh were hiding in a bedroom when the victim arrived.³ Throwing a sheet over the victim, they wrestled him to the floor. During the course of the struggle, the victim bit Beasley and he retaliated by hitting the victim on the head with a beer mug. The victim began to bleed excessively and a plastic bag was placed over his head. Then Beasley placed his hands over the victim's nose and mouth until he stopped breathing.

Beasley and the others took $31 from the victim and loaded his body into his pickup truck. They dumped his body in a creek and weighed it down with rocks. Then they drove to Columbus and parted company.

Beasley and Crosby remained in the victim's truck until they were stopped for stealing gasoline. The truck was impounded, but they were released from custody.

Thereafter, Beasley and Crosby kidnapped another victim, and stole his truck. They drove to Florida, where that victim managed to escape. Beasley and Crosby were arrested soon after they returned to Georgia.

Following his arrest, Beasley confessed⁴ and showed the police where the victim was buried. An autopsy revealed that the victim died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head and asphyxiation. Beasley's and Crosby's fingerprints were found in the victim's truck. Pieces of a broken beer mug were found in Beasley's trailer and the creek where the victim's body was recovered.

1. The evidence was sufficient to enable any rational trier of fact to find Beasley guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes for which he was convicted. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). See also Barnes v. State, 260 Ga. 398, 399(2), 396 S.E.2d 207 (1990).

2. The State introduced evidence that Beasley watched the movie "Natural Born Killers" 19 or 20 times; that he had said he wanted to be like the characters in the movie; that he and Crosby sometimes used the names of characters in the movie; and that he sometimes referred to himself as "the Natural." The movie itself was introduced into evidence and shown to the jury in its entirety. It depicts a violent murder, rape, kidnapping and prison mutiny.

Beasley asserts the trial court erred in permitting the movie to be shown to the jury because it was irrelevant. We disagree.

In Turner v. State, 194 Ga.App. 878, 392 S.E.2d 256 (1990), police officers found a rented videotape in the defendant's home. The tape depicted the kidnapping of a young girl who was thrown on a bed and violently threatened with rape before she was rescued by the police. The Court of Appeals deemed the tape admissible to show the defendant's bent of mind to commit the crimes for which he was charged—kidnapping with bodily harm, rape, aggravated sodomy and theft by taking. In so doing, the appellate court observed that the jury may have made the permissible inference that the videotape encouraged the defendant to commit the crimes.

In this case, as in Turner, the jury may have made the permissible inference that Beasley was encouraged by the movie to commit a violent murder. After all, Beasley viewed the movie an extraordinary number of times and he identified with characters in the movie. Given these factors, we conclude that the movie was relevant to show Beasley's bent of mind. See Wood v. State, 255 Ga. 697, 341 S.E.2d 442 (1986).

It cannot be said that the trial court erred in failing to give cautionary instructions to the jury with regard to the viewing of the movie. Beasley made no request for such instructions.

3. Because one of the characters in the movie "Natural Born Killers" shaved his head, the State was permitted to introduce a photograph depicting Beasley with a shaved head.⁵ The photograph was relevant to show Beasley's penchant for the movie and his bent of mind. See Division 2, supra.

4. The trial court did not err in permitting the State to show that Beasley committed additional crimes after he murdered the victim or in charging the jury with regard to those crimes. Evidence of those crimes was admissible as part of "one crime spree and as evidence of [Beasley's] bent of mind and of the circumstances of his arrest. [Cits.]" Greene v. State, 266 Ga. 439, 445(13), 469 S.E.2d 129 (1996), rev'd on other grounds, Greene v. Georgia, 519 U.S. 145, 117 S.Ct. 578, 136 L.Ed.2d 507 (1996). See also Crosby v. State, 259 Ga. 822, 823(2), 389 S.E.2d 207 (1990) (subsequent acts were relevant and admissible because they were part of crime spree indicating certain course of conduct).

Beasley also contends that evidence of these additional crimes was inadmissible because the State failed to comply with the requirements of Uniform Superior Court Rule 31.3(B). This contention is without merit. Rule 31.3 is inapplicable where, as here, the additional crimes were part of a single, continuous crime spree. USCR 31.3(E); Baird v. State, 207 Ga.App. 44, 45, 427 S.E.2d 37 (1993). Compare Wilkins v. State, 266 Ga. 278, 280(3), 466 S.E.2d 592 (1996) with Grace v. State, 262 Ga. 746, 747(1), 425 S.E.2d 865 (1993).

5. Beasley enumerates error with regard to the verdict form that the trial court sent out with the jury, pointing out that it did not contain a designated space for a "not guilty" verdict. However, although the trial court displayed the proposed verdict form to counsel and invited comment, this enumeration was not asserted below. It follows that this enumeration was not preserved for appellate review. See Brannan Auto Parts v. Raymark Industries, 183 Ga.App. 82(1), 357 S.E.2d 807 (1987). Besides, the verdict form contained nothing more than a blank space underneath each charge, and the jurors were to specify in those spaces whether Beasley was guilty or not guilty of each charge.

6. Beasley did not request a charge on voluntary manslaughter and there was no evidence to support such a request. It cannot be said, therefore, that the trial court erred in failing to give a voluntary manslaughter charge, or to include a voluntary manslaughter alternative on the verdict form. Isaac v. State, 263 Ga. 872, 874(5), 440 S.E.2d 175 (1994).

7. The trial court properly instructed the jury that its verdict as to the penalty had to be unanimous. It was not required to instruct the jury that lack of unanimity forecloses imposition of the death penalty. Parks v. State, 254 Ga. 403, 416(14), 330 S.E.2d 686 (1985).

8. Prior to closing argument in the penalty phase, Beasley sought permission to inform the jury that he and the State had stipulated that the State did not intend to seek the death penalty against Courson and Walsh. The jury was so informed. Thereafter, the district attorney told the jury in closing argument: "I have stipulated and agreed that I have filed no notice of our intention to seek the death penalty on two of the four defendants in this case. I'm here to tell you that has nothing to do with Ronnie Beasley or what his sentence should be. When, or how, or whether to file a notice to seek the death penalty is a tactical consideration on the part of attorneys." At that point, Beasley's counsel interposed an objection. The trial court overruled the objection after it ascertained that defense counsel agreed to the stipulation so he could argue "another phase of it." Thereafter, Beasley's counsel argued that the jury should not impose the death penalty in this case because the State was not seeking the death penalty against Courson and Walsh.

Pointing out that a district attorney should not make comparisons between the case being tried and other cases with which he is personally familiar, Conklin v. State, 254 Ga. 558, 572-573, 331 S.E.2d 532 (1985), Beasley asserts the trial court erred in permitting the district attorney to state why the death penalty was not being sought against Courson and Walsh. This assertion is without merit. Beasley sought and introduced the stipulation so he could make a comparison between his case and the other cases. He cannot be heard to complain that the district attorney stole his thunder. Moreover, the district attorney's comments went no further than the stipulation itself: They did not raise the banner of prosecutorial expertise; nor did they infringe upon the jury's discretion. Id. Taken as a whole, the district attorney's remarks made it clear that whatever punishment the jury meted out—death, life without parole, or life—was a matter which was in the hands of the jury alone.

9. During closing argument in the penalty phase, the district attorney stated that the sentence should be imposed without emotion. In so doing, the district attorney added: "If ... you were the victim and someone was sitting in judgment of somebody who victimized you." Defense counsel immediately objected, pointing out that it was...