Cammon v. State

• Citation: 500 S.E.2d 329,269 Ga. 470
• Decision Date: 18 May 1998
• Docket Number: No. S98A0720-S98A0722.
• Parties: CAMMON v. The STATE. BOLTON v. The STATE. HALL v. The STATE.
• Court: Supreme Court of Georgia

500 S.E.2d 329

269 Ga. 470

CAMMON v. The STATE.

BOLTON v. The STATE.

HALL v. The STATE.

Nos. S98A0720-S98A0722.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

May 18, 1998.

James T. Barfield, III, Palmetto, for Patrick Bernard Cammon.

Peter J. Skandalakis, Dist. Atty., Lynda Susan Engel, Asst. Dist. Atty., LaGrange, Hon. Thurbert E. Baker, Atty. Gen., James Jayson Phillips, Asst. Atty. Gen., Paula K. Smith, Senior Asst. Atty. Gen., Department of Law, Atlanta, for the State.

Steven Erle Fanning, Fanning & Hudson, Newnan, for other interested parties in Case No. S98A0721.

Walter S. Haugen, Sanders, Haugen & Sears, Newnan, for other interested parties in Case No. S98A0722. CARLEY, Justice.

The grand jury returned an indictment charging Patrick Cammon, Marcus Bolton and Kevin Hall with the felony murder of Aretha Ellison while in the commission of an aggravated assault upon other individuals. In addition, the indictment charged the three with several counts of aggravated assault. The trial court granted a directed verdict of acquittal as to one of the aggravated assault counts, and the jury found Cammon, Bolton and Hall guilty on all of the remaining counts. Upon the merger of the aggravated assault counts into the felony murder count, the trial court entered judgments of conviction and life sentences for that offense. Cammon, Bolton and Hall filed motions for new trial. When the trial court denied their motions, each filed a separate appeal from his conviction and life sentence for the felony murder of Ms. Ellison.¹

1. Cammon, Bolton and Hall enumerate the general grounds. The State's evidence shows the following: On the night of the homicide, all three were at a nightclub. Cammon became involved in a fistfight with Adrian Woods. This fight ended when Cammon fled. Bolton and Hall left the nightclub for the apartment complex where Hall lived. They soon were joined by Cammon. Cammon stated to Bolton and Hall that "he needed to straighten his business, and he needed something to do it with." Hall's response was to give Cammon an unloaded Beretta pistol. Bolton, who also was armed, then supplied Cammon with bullets for the Beretta pistol. Shortly thereafter, a van carrying Woods and several others pulled into the apartment complex. Cammon recognized Woods and, as the van drove closer, Cammon took cover and opened fire. The occupants of the van shot back. Both Bolton and Hall attempted to fire at the van, but apparently the weapon they were sharing jammed. During the shoot-out, Ms. Ellison was struck and killed by a bullet as she stood in her living room. There was evidence that the bullet which killed Ms. Ellison could have been fired from a Beretta pistol. The claim of self-defense was contradicted by the evidence that Cammon, who was seeking revenge for his earlier fight with Woods, prepared an ambush and fired first before any one in the van became aware of his presence or made a hostile move toward him.

This evidence is sufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. Ellison died as the result of an aggravated assault committed when Cammon opened fire on the occupants of the van. The evidence is also sufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Bolton and Hall were parties to the aggravated assault because they supplied Cammon with the weapon and bullets knowing that he intended to use those items to avenge himself against Woods and they also attempted to fire at the occupants of the van. Accordingly, the evidence authorized the convictions and life sentences for the felony murder of Ms. Ellison. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); Smith v. State, 267 Ga. 372, 375(5), 477 S.E.2d 827 (1996); Williams v. State, 267 Ga. 308, 309(1, 2), 477 S.E.2d 570 (1996).

2. Cammon, Bolton and Hall urge that their convictions must be reversed because of the State's knowing use of perjured testimony. "Conviction of a crime following a trial in which perjured testimony on a material point is knowingly used by the prosecution is an infringement on the accused's Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process of law. [Cits.]" Kitchens v. State, 160 Ga.App. 492, 493(1), 287 S.E.2d 316 (1981). Here, unlike in Kitchens, supra, no State's witness has made an undisputed post-conviction recantation of any preconviction testimony. Instead, the purported perjury consists entirely of the inconsistencies and discrepancies between and among the pre-trial statements of the State's witnesses and the testimony given by them at trial. None of these inconsistencies and discrepancies in the State's evidence was undisclosed to the defense at the time of trial, and all instances were available as a basis for attacking the credibility of the State's witnesses. There is no constitutional requirement that the witnesses upon whom the State relies to prove its case must give consistent evidence. The applicable constitutional guarantee is the Sixth Amendment right to a trial before an impartial jury for a determination of the credibility of the State's case and defendant's defense. Here, the convictions are not based upon the State's knowing use of perjured testimony, but upon that version of the events most unfavorable to Cammon, Bolton and Hall, which version the jury accepted after hearing all of the evidence and resolving the credibility of all of the witnesses. Harrison v. State, 257 Ga. 528, 530(1), 361 S.E.2d 149 (1987).

3. Cammon and Bolton urge that the trial court erred in allowing an officer, who was not qualified as an expert in ballistics, to give an opinion as to the trajectory of the bullet which killed the victim. The record shows that the testimony was based upon the officer's own extensive investigation of the homicide, wherein he established the facts from which he formed his opinion. Under these circumstances, the officer's opinion as to the path of the bullet was admissible over the objection to his lack of expertise in the field of ballistics. McGhee v. State, 253 Ga. 278, 280(5), 319 S.E.2d 836 (1984); Spikes v. State, 183 Ga. 279(1), 188 S.E. 454 (1936); Tanner v. State, 163 Ga. 121, 126(7), 135 S.E. 917 (1926).

The ultimate issue in the case was not the trajectory of the bullet, but whether Cammon, Bolton and Hall were guilty of an aggravated assault or not guilty by reason of self-defense. See Fordham v. State, 254 Ga. 59(4), 325 S.E.2d 755 (1985). If the three co-defendants were parties to an aggravated assault initiated against the occupants of the van, then they all were guilty of felony murder regardless of who actually fired the shot which killed the victim. Smith v. State, supra at 375(5), 477 S.E.2d 827. If, on the other hand, they were victims of an aggravated assault initiated by the occupants of the van, then they all were not guilty by reason of self-defense even if one of them had shot the victim. The officer was not asked whether he believed that the three started the shoot-out or were justified in defending themselves against an aggravated assault begun by the occupants of the van. Compare Fordham v. State, supra. The officer only was asked if he had an opinion as to the path of the bullet, and his response to that inquiry was not inadmissible on the ground that it expressed his opinion on the ultimate issue in the case. Compare Fordham v. State, supra.

4. Cammon asserts that his trial counsel was ineffective in several respects. To prevail on this claim, Cammon must show that his trial counsel's performance was deficient and that, but for the deficient performance, there is a reasonable likelihood that the jury would have returned a different verdict. Lowe v. State, 267 Ga. 410, 413(5), 478 S.E.2d 762 (1996). There is a strong presumption that Cammon received effective legal representation. Lowe v. State, supra at 415(5)(d), 478 S.E.2d 762. Moreover, at the hearing on the motion for new trial, Cammon's trial counsel testified in defense of his own effectiveness. Having tried the case and heard from Cammon's trial counsel, the trial court found that there was no denial of effective assistance of counsel, and that finding must be affirmed unless it is clearly erroneous. Kelly v. State, 267 Ga. 252, 253(2), 477 S.E.2d 110 (1996).

a) The failure to request certain charges is cited as an example of ineffectiveness. According to trial counsel, he elected not to request charges on voluntary manslaughter and mutual combat because such charges were predicated upon Cammon's willing participation in the shoot-out and would be inconsistent with the claim of self-defense. Thus, counsel made a tactical decision to present a consistent complete defense to Cammon's criminal liability, rather than to acknowledge the possibility of guilt of a lesser offense than that charged.

In connection with Cammon's claim of self-defense, his attorney did not request a separate charge that threats and menaces can authorize the "reasonable belief" that force is necessary. It does not appear, however, that there was any evidence of threats and menaces directed toward Cammon prior to the arrival of the van which would justify a reasonable belief that the use of deadly force was necessary to protect himself against its occupants. The previous altercation with Woods was a mere fistfight and no guns were involved. Insofar as the actual shoot-out is concerned, Cammon apparently did not claim that he engaged in an anticipatory firing based upon mere threats and menaces by the occupants of the van, but asserted that they actually shot at him first and he returned fire. If there was no evidence to authorize a charge on threats and menaces, it could not be ineffective for counsel to fail to request such an unauthorized charge. See Daniels v. State, 264 Ga. 259, 261(3), 443 S.E.2d 622 (1994). Moreover, even if there was some evidence of threats and menaces, the extensive charge that was given by the trial...