Bland v. State
| Decision Date | 07 November 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. S94A0936,S94A0936 |
| Parties | BLAND v. STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Edea M. Caldwell, Stockbridge, for Melvin Lewis Bland.
Tommy K. Floyd, Dist. Atty., McDonough, Michael J. Bowers, Atty. Gen., Atlanta, Thomas R. McBerry, Asst. Dist. Atty., Barnesville, Susan V. Boleyn, Senior Asst. Atty. Gen., Dept. of Law, Atlanta, for the State.
Marla-Deen Brooks, Asst. Atty. Gen., Dept. of Law, Atlanta.
Melvin Lewis Bland was convicted of malice murder and two counts of armed robbery in the shooting death and armed robbery of Bruce Wayne Skinner. He was also convicted of escape from the Butts County Jail, and aggravated assault of a jailer. He appeals. We vacate one conviction for armed robbery, but affirm the remaining convictions. 1
Bland and his co-defendant Allen Dean Jackson worked for Skinner on his sod farm. Early on the morning of October 10, 1992, Skinner was seen driving in his white Chevrolet pick-up truck with two men riding in the back. Shortly after 11:00 a.m. Bland and Jackson drove to the C & S Bank in Jackson, Georgia in a white pick-up and Bland cashed a forged check on Skinner's account. Around 4:00 p.m that day, Bland and Jackson had a wreck in Monroe County while driving Skinner's truck and abandoned the truck there. The truck had blood spatters, flesh fragments and bullet holes and fragments in it. A rifle belonging to Skinner and Skinner's wallet, containing no money, were found in woods along the road between Jackson and Monroe County.
On the day of the murder, police seized Bland's blood-stained clothes. The State Crime Lab found that enzymes in the blood samples were consistent with Skinner's blood.
The next day, Skinner's body was found on the sod farm. Skinner had been shot in the neck with a rifle.
After Bland was arrested, he was incarcerated in the Butts County Jail. Glenda Woodard, a jailer, testified that on November 3, 1992 Bland struck her in the head with a mop wringer and beat her until she lost consciousness. He then used Woodard's keys to escape. The next day Bland was apprehended at a Huddle House.
1. After reviewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the jury's determination of guilt, we conclude that a rational trier of fact could have found Bland guilty of the crimes charged. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).
2. Bland contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to sever the murder and armed robbery charges from the escape and aggravated assault charges because the evidence supporting the murder charge was circumstantial and that, therefore, trying the unrelated aggravated assault charge with the murder charge was so prejudicial as to require severance. The charges were joined because they constituted a series of acts connected together. The absolute right to severance exists only where offenses have been joined solely because they are of the same or similar character. Terry v. State, 259 Ga. 165, 168, 377 S.E.2d 837 (1989). Where, however, as here, joinder is based on a series of acts connected together, severance lies within the sound discretion of the trial court. Coats v. State, 234 Ga. 659, 662, 217 S.E.2d 260 (1975); Dingler v. State, 233 Ga. 462, 464, 211 S.E.2d 752 (1975). The trial court should sever the offenses if severance is appropriate to promote a fair determination of guilt or innocence as to each offense. Dingler, 233 Ga. at 463, 211 S.E.2d 752. Whether evidence of one offense would be admissible in a trial of the other if severance is granted is a relevant consideration. See, e.g., Gober v. State, 247 Ga. 652, 654, 278 S.E.2d 386 (1981); Wilson v. State, 245 Ga. 49, 55, 262 S.E.2d 810 (1980).
Evidence of the escape would have been admissible in the trial on the murder and armed robbery charges. See Childs v. State, 257 Ga. 243, 245, 357 S.E.2d 48 (), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 970, 108 S.Ct. 467, 98 L.Ed.2d 406 (1987); Renner v. State, 260 Ga. 515, 397 S.E.2d 683 (1990) (); Welborn v. State, 236 Ga. 319, 223 S.E.2d 698 (1976) (). Similarly evidence of the aggravated assault would have been admissible because it was part of the immediate circumstances of the escape. Chambers v. State, 250 Ga. 856, 859, 302 S.E.2d 86 (1983). Finally, evidence of Bland's alleged commission of murder and armed robbery (but not evidence of the subsequent convictions) would have been admissible in the trial of the escape charge to demonstrate lawfulness of confinement. Carter v. State, 155 Ga.App. 840, 843, 273 S.E.2d 417 (1980)...
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