Chadwick v. State
Decision Date | 01 July 2021 |
Docket Number | A21A0183 |
Citation | 861 S.E.2d 612,360 Ga.App. 491 |
Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Parties | CHADWICK v. The STATE. |
George W. Weaver, for Appellant.
Shannon Glover Wallace, District Attorney, Cliff Head, Holly Lynn Varner, Assistant District Attorneys, for Appellee.
This case arises from a drunken brawl in which John Atchley ("Atchley") and John Travis Chadwick ("Chadwick") fought each other, and in which Atchley fought his family members who were attempting to prevent him from driving home drunk from Chadwick's house. The brawl ultimately ended when Chadwick kicked Atchley in the face multiple times, causing him serious injury. As a result of this alcohol-fueled ordeal, a jury convicted Chadwick of battery as a lesser included charge to aggravated battery, and of aggravated assault. The trial court denied Chadwick's motion for new trial, and he appeals, contending that the trial court erred by (1) failing to quash the indictment on the ground of immunity because his behavior was justified; (2) charging the jury as to revenge; (3) failing to charge a lesser included offense for aggravated assault; and (4) failing to merge Chadwick's convictions. For the following reasons, we affirm Chadwick's aggravated assault conviction, vacate his battery conviction, and remand the case for resentencing.
On appeal of a conviction based on a jury verdict we should examine the evidence in a light most favorable to support that verdict. We resolve all conflicts in favor of the verdict. It is the duty of this court to sustain the verdict if we should find when viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the verdict that a rational trier of fact could find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
(Citations omitted.) Anderson v. State , 245 Ga. 619, 622 (1), 266 S.E.2d 221 (1980).
So viewed, the evidence shows that Atchley and Chadwick were acquaintances, and on April 23, 2016, Atchley arrived at the Chadwick home. Atchley and Chadwick proceeded to drink beer and moonshine to the point of extreme intoxication. Eventually, Atchley's adult son, Alec Atchley ("Alec"), and his girlfriend arrived at the Chadwick residence. The mood between Atchley and Chadwick changed, and after the men exchanged words, Chadwick punched Atchley in the face and swung at Alec. Chadwick proclaimed that he was willing to fight anyone.
As the situation deteriorated between Atchley and Chadwick, Alec called his mother, Robin Atchley ("Robin"), to ask her to come to the Chadwick residence to pick up Atchley, who needed to leave but was too drunk to drive. By the time Robin arrived, Atchley and Chadwick had calmed down and were drinking beer outside the Chadwick house together. As Robin spoke with Chadwick's wife Helen, Atchley and Chadwick walked away and toward a shed beside the Chadwick house. Robin and Helen followed their husbands to try to separate them. Robin grabbed at Atchley's arm to get him to leave, and she heard Helen say that Chadwick hit her. After the encounter by the shed, Atchley looked frightened.
As this was unfolding, Atchley's other adult son, Payden Atchley ("Payden"), arrived with his fiancée. As Payden was driving up the driveway, Chadwick's step-daughter was leaving and told Payden that he should go get Atchley because Chadwick had just knocked him out. Knowing that his father kept a gun in his car, Payden went to retrieve and secure it.
Atchley and his family members all decided that it was best for Atchley to leave, but despite his intoxication, Atchley was adamantly trying to drive himself. As a result, Alec and Robin were physically tussling with Atchley trying to remove him from a truck he climbed inside. During this confrontation, Atchley hit Alec, who then returned the gesture by punching Atchley in the face. Robin jumped on Atchley in an attempt to keep him away from Alec, and Atchley pushed Robin down. With Atchley, Robin, and Alec engaged in a physical struggle, Payden, who was standing nearby, fired several shots from his father's gun into the ground in an attempt to break up the fight. Atchley then got up and attempted to drive away in a different truck. Alec and Robin attempted to pull Atchley away from this truck, and they tripped over each other and all three fell to the ground. Again, Payden fired Atchley's gun into the ground in an attempt to break everyone up.
When Atchley landed that time he was face down on the ground. At that point, Chadwick rapidly approached Atchley, Alec, and Robin, who were all still on the ground, said something to the effect of "watch this," and then proceeded to kick Atchley in the face three times with a steel-toed cowboy boot. Chadwick then went over to Payden, asked if Payden wanted to fight, and then punched him in the jaw. Chadwick subsequently swung at, but did not hit, Alec. As a result of this, Atchley was transported by helicopter to Grady Hospital and suffered a broken nose
, a fractured eye socket, and his tear duct was torn from his eye, which temporarily popped out of the socket, and required surgery. Atchley now suffers from memory loss and has lost 90 percent of the use of his left eye.
Following this confrontation, Chadwick was indicted on charges of aggravated assault and aggravated battery. Chadwick moved to dismiss the indictment on the ground of immunity, arguing that his actions were justified to protect third persons as well as his habitation. Following an evidentiary hearing, the trial court denied the motion.
After a jury trial, at which conflicting accounts of the events of the evening were presented by members of the Atchley family on the one hand, and friends and family of Chadwick on the other, Chadwick was convicted of battery as a lesser included charge to aggravated battery, and of aggravated assault. The trial court denied Chadwick's motion for new trial, and he timely appealed.
1. Chadwick contends that the trial court erred in denying his pretrial motion for immunity because his actions were justified. We disagree.
OCGA § 16-3-21 (a). Moreover, "[a] person is justified in threatening or using force against another when and to the extent that he or she reasonably believes that such threat or force is necessary to prevent or terminate such other's unlawful entry into or attack upon a habitation[.]" OCGA § 16-3-23.
A person who uses threats or force in accordance with Code Section 16-3-21, relating to the use of force in defense of self or others, [or] Code Section 16-3-23, relating to the use of force in defense of a habitation, ... has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and use force as provided in said Code sections, including deadly force.
OCGA § 16-3-23.1.
Here, Chadwick moved for pretrial for immunity on the ground that his actions were justified given Atchley's drunken conduct at his home. The trial court held an evidentiary hearing, at which it heard conflicting accounts of what transpired at the Chadwick home that night. Viewed in the light most favorable to the trial court's ruling, however, the trial court heard evidence at the immunity hearing that Chadwick drunkenly attempted to provoke a fight with Atchley, punched Atchley, pushed his own wife, and, after saying "watch this," kicked Atchley three times in the face when Atchley was lying face-down on the ground after falling as he was attempting to leave the Chadwick property.
As to Chadwick's claim that he was acting in defense of habitation, he failed to establish that Atchley was attempting to enter his habitation at the moment of the attack against Atchley. Indeed, the undisputed evidence at the immunity hearing was that Atchley was attempting to leave the Chadwick property at the moment he was attacked, albeit by attempting to drive drunk while his family members tried to force him into one of their vehicles as a passenger. "Critical to the application of the defense of habitation is the moment in time at which the defendant resorts to ... force and the act being performed by the victim at that moment." Coleman v. State , 286 Ga. 291, 298 (6), 687 S.E.2d 427 (2009).
Kicking Atchley in the face under the circumstances present here did not support immunity from prosecution for defense of Chadwick's habitation. See generally Patel v. State , 279 Ga. 750, 752 (a), 620 S.E.2d 343 (2005) (disapproved of on other grounds by Gibbs v. State , 303 Ga. 681, 813 S.E.2d 393 (2018)) () (citation and punctuation omitted); Philpot v. State , 311 Ga. App. 486, 489 (3), 716 S.E.2d 551 (2011) ( ...
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