Chandler v. State

• Decision Date: 03 July 1991
• Docket Number: No. S91A0167,S91A0167
• Citation: 261 Ga. 402,405 S.E.2d 669
• Parties: CHANDLER v. The STATE.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

Page 669

405 S.E.2d 669

261 Ga. 402

CHANDLER v. The STATE.

No. S91A0167.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

July 3, 1991.

Roger E. Douglas, Valdosta, for Chandler.

Robert B. Ellis, Jr., Dist. Atty., Nashville, Robert D. Cullifer, Asst. Dist. Atty., Lakeland, Michael J. Bowers, Atty. Gen., Andrew S. Ree, Dept. of Law, Atlanta, for State.

BELL, Justice.

Deborah Jean Chandler was convicted of the malice murder of Anthony Bernard Ryan, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Chandler was also convicted of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. ¹ She appeals, and we affirm.

1. Appellant's sole defense to the charge of murder was justification. On appeal, she raises the general grounds regarding her murder conviction, and also contends the court erred in failing to direct a verdict of acquittal regarding the murder charge.

The standard for our review of these contentions is whether there was sufficient evidence for a rational trier of fact to have found appellant guilty of malice murder beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). When viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence was that appellant and Ryan lived together in Valdosta, Ga., and that Ryan was the father of one of appellant's children. Ryan and appellant's relationship was tempestuous, and on numerous occasions Ryan physically abused appellant. After he beat her the day before the killing, she decided to end their relationship. On the morning of the killing, she returned his clothing to his sister, Sharon Ryan, telling the sister that appellant's relationship with the victim was over. Sharon Ryan said she noticed no scratches or marks on appellant. Later that day Sharon Ryan told the victim that she had his clothes.

Appellant subsequently drove to the courthouse in Valdosta to obtain a warrant against Ryan. According to appellant, the victim encountered her on her way there and followed her, harrassing her with his car and throwing a milk carton inside her car. At the courthouse Ryan confronted her on foot and beat her. After the beating appellant attempted to obtain a warrant at the courthouse and the police station, but without success. While at the courthouse she told a sheriff's lieutenant who tried to help her:

Sir, that's all right. I'm just tired of all of this. I'm tired of being beat up. And if it happens again, I'll take care of the situation.

Appellant subsequently met with a friend, Patricia Miller. According to Miller, appellant told her

she wanted to get a gun in case he came back bothering with her because she was real scared. She was real upset. So, we sat there and we talked a long time. So, I told her, well, to protect herself, she should get a gun.

Miller then drove appellant to a Valdosta pawn shop where, shortly after six p.m., she purchased the .38 caliber pistol she later used to kill the victim. She told the man who sold her the pistol that

she had been beaten up and she was trying to purchase a weapon. She was, you know, in fear. She was shaken up and was wanting a weapon to protect herself with.

She also told the man she was buying the gun to protect her child and her rights.

After appellant purchased the gun, Miller drove her to Lakeland, Ga., where they arrived about six-thirty or seven p.m. Appellant and Miller testified that the purpose of the trip was to pick up Miller's mother. However, Miller admitted she had told Sharon Ryan after the shooting that it was appellant's idea to go to Lakeland. In Lakeland they drove a total of three times to the Three Oaks Club. Appellant said she had never known Miller's mother to be at the club, but knew that if the victim were in Lakeland, it was likely he would be at the club. On the first two visits to the club, appellant saw the victim. After the first visit they encountered Sharon Ryan, who was standing by the road in front of her house. Appellant told her about the victim beating her at the courthouse, and informed her that she was tired of fighting with him. Appellant took out the pistol and loaded it, and at that point Sharon Ryan told her, "Well, just do whatever you have to do."

On their third visit to the club, Miller and appellant were accompanied by a third woman, Sue Gail Warren Everett. Miller was driving, and appellant was in the front passenger seat. At the club they encountered Timothy Riley, who talked with them through appellant's window while they sat in the car. Riley said the victim then walked up to the car, with "a serious look on his face, straight enough for me to get up." After Riley yielded his place at appellant's window, the victim leaned through the window, so that his body from the waist up was inside the car. According to appellant, Miller, and Everett, the victim began to beat appellant, even though the three women shouted at him to stop. Riley was nearby and saw the victim leaning into the car. Riley was unable to see whether the victim was beating Miller, but he did testify that he heard no yelling. While the victim was leaning into the car, appellant fired her pistol five times, striking the victim twice. One of the two shots that hit him wounded his left arm, and the other shot fatally wounded him in the chest. The shooting occurred at approximately eleven p.m. At trial, Everett admitted that before trial she, Miller, and appellant had talked over what their testimony might be.

There was disputed testimony concerning the extent to which the alleged beating appellant received from the victim caused any injury to appellant. A police officer, Robert Ryan, who was at the club shortly after the shooting observed no bruises or scratches on appellant. Bryan Graves of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation took a statement from appellant approximately three hours after the killing, and at trial described her physical condition as follows:

She had one--I guess the best way to describe it would be a scrape right between her eyes. Her blouse--she had on a white pullover type blouse. It was torn at the shoulder, there were blood stains on it. The only injury I observed was the single scratch between her eyes.

Q Was it a bleeding scratch?

[Graves] You could see red in it, but there was no blood coming out of it. It was a fresh type scratch.

...

Q Did she have any particular complaints about being hit in any particular part of the body?

[Graves] No, sir, she did not.

Q Did you notice any bruises, lacerations, other than the one to her brow?

[Graves] No, sir, that was the single wound of any type that I saw.

...

Graves also saw appellant about two days later, and noticed no swelling. He testified he saw "nothing different at all than what I'd seen before."

Appellant testified at trial. During cross-examination the following colloquy occurred:

Q And you say there was this fight between you and Anthony [the victim].

A Uh-huh (affirmative response).

Q You didn't just sit there--you didn't sit there and just take it.

A Yes, I fought back for a while.

Q You fought back, too.

A Uh-huh (affirmative response).

Q Now, nobody said that you had any black eyes, any busted nose, any busted lip, any anything, and that's about the truth.

A I wonder why, too. I wonder why nobody said that, too. I don't understand that either because I did. I had two black eyes. My face was swole [sic]. They took pictures of me. I had gunpowder on the back of my neck. I don't even know where [are] the pictures that they took of me. ² ... I don't really know what's going on here. I don't know whether people want to get to the bottom of the truth or not.

Q I think these people in the jury box do. So it's your testimony that Bryan Graves was lying--

A Yes.

Q --when he said that your face wasn't swollen and didn't have any signs on it.

A Yes.

Q That wasn't the truth.

After reviewing this evidence, we are not unsympathetic to the plight of appellant, as it is undisputed that she was repeatedly and seriously physically abused by Anthony Ryan. However, our focus must be whether, on the particular occasion that she killed Ryan, her conduct was justified.

If the testimony of appellant and Miller were credited concerning the purpose of their trip to Lakeland, and if the testimony of appellant, Miller, and Everett were credited concerning whether Ryan was beating appellant at the time of the shooting, we would be faced with a closer question of justification.

However, the jury was entitled to disbelieve appellant's and Miller's ostensible purpose for going to Lakeland, as it is belied in several respects. There was evidence that appellant and her companions drove to Lakeland within an hour of the purchase of the gun. Although Miller testified that going to Lakeland was her idea, she admitted she told Sharon Ryan the idea was appellant's. Miller and appellant drove straightaway to the Three Oaks Club, even though they knew that Miller's mother did not go there and that the victim was likely to be there if he was in Lakeland. On that first ride to the club they saw the victim, and yet returned twice more and stopped at the club the third time, despite knowing the victim's recent propensity to confront and attack appellant. Moreover, appellant loaded her pistol after the first visit, which would indicate she was expecting trouble with the victim. In addition, Everett admitted before trial that she, Miller, and appellant had talked about their testimony. Under these circumstances, the jury was authorized to conclude that appellant deliberately sought out the victim soon after purchasing the pistol, for the purpose of shooting him.

Moreover, the jury was entitled not to credit the testimony of appellant, Miller, and Everett concerning whether Ryan beat appellant after he leaned into the car. Their testimony conflicts with the testimony of Graves and Officer Robert Ryan, both of whom observed little or no evidence of the injuries one would expect appellant to have suffered from the alleged...