Crider v. State

• Decision Date: 29 June 2020
• Docket Number: A20A0527
• Citation: 356 Ga.App. 36,846 S.E.2d 205
• Parties: CRIDER v. The STATE.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

356 Ga.App. 36

846 S.E.2d 205

CRIDER

v.The STATE.

A20A0527

Court of Appeals of Georgia.

June 29, 2020

Strickland Webster, Leigh Ann Webster, Atlanta, for Appellant.

Joyette Marie Holmes, District Attorney, Amelia Greeson Pray, Assistant District Attorney, Appellee.

Gobeil, Judge.

A jury found Cattrina Crider guilty of one count of aggravated assault – family violence, three counts of aggravated battery – family violence, and two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, based on her pointing a firearm at and shooting Arnold Kerlin, her boyfriend at the time, in the stomach. Crider appeals from her judgment of conviction and the denial of her motion for new trial, asserting that: (1) trial counsel was ineffective for four distinct reasons; (2) the trial court erred by refusing to instruct the jury on self-defense; and (3) the trial court erred at sentencing by refusing to merge two of her convictions. Crider also filed a supplemental brief asking this Court to consider the cumulative effect of counsel's errors in addition to the trial court's failure to give the jury charge on self-defense. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

On appeal from a criminal conviction, the evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to support the verdict, and the defendant no longer enjoys the presumption of innocence; moreover, an appellate court determines evidence sufficiency and does not weigh the evidence or determine witness credibility.

Williams v. State , 333 Ga. App. 879, 879, 777 S.E.2d 711 (2015) (citation and punctuation omitted).

Thus viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the record shows that Crider and Kerlin in a romantic relationship and living together in December 2014. Not long after Crider moved into Kerlin's apartment, Kerlin began to see "red flags" in Crider's behavior, such as severe mood swings and alcohol abuse. Crider and Kerlin both drank regularly during the relationship. The relationship devolved, and Crider began to binge drink and would become violent, including an incident where she punched Kerlin in the mouth. When this happened, Kerlin would leave the apartment. At some point, Kerlin told Crider that he wanted her to move out of the apartment when the lease ended, which made Crider angry.

On December 6, 2014, Crider began drinking early in the morning. Kerlin was watching football and drinking beer that afternoon; he estimated that he drank three or four beers over the course of a few hours. Crider continued drinking heavily throughout the day. Around 9:00 p.m. that evening, Crider began to argue with Kerlin, and Kerlin moved into the bedroom and shut and locked the door to get away from her. Crider kicked the door open, and Kerlin decided to leave the apartment. As he began to collect his things, he noticed that his wallet, keys, and cell phone were not in their normal location. Kerlin believed that Crider had taken them, as she had done in the past.

Kerlin left the bedroom to look for his keys in his coat, which was located in the living room. When he walked back into the bedroom, Crider was kneeling on the floor of the bedroom, with a gun drawn, pointed at Kerlin. Kerlin knew that Crider owned a firearm, but he had never seen her with it in the past. Kerlin did not take her seriously at first, laughed at her, and asked: "[Y]ou're going to shoot me so I can't leave?" Kerlin had a gun of his own that he kept under his mattress, although it was not loaded.¹ Kerlin reached down, picked up his unloaded gun, and asked: "Are we going to have a shootout now?" He then put his gun on the dresser, telling Crider that she was being ridiculous.

Kerlin "stood there for a minute" and asked Crider to give him his keys so that he could leave. Crider did not answer, she "just kept pointing the gun at [Kerlin]" and "kept following [him] around with it." Kerlin went to walk around Crider, to get to his closet, and Crider "put the gun up to [his] stomach and mumbled something along of the lines of you're not going anywhere." Kerlin went to push the gun away, and he heard a "bang" and "knew the gun had gone off." Kerlin did not feel the pain from the gunshot initially, but then he looked down and saw the gunshot wound in his stomach. Crider was immediately upset by what had happened, and fell to the floor with the gun still in her hand. Kerlin began to yell for help and made it out his front door, where he saw his neighbor.

The neighbor, who heard "a help-me kind of a noise[,]" saw Kerlin standing outside the apartment, holding his abdomen and explaining that he had been shot. The neighbor called 911. The officer who responded to the scene found Kerlin with a gunshot wound in his stomach. The officer then saw Crider, whom he described as "hysterical" and "completely out of it, zoned out, and ... kind of incoherent." The officer believed that she was intoxicated, and he smelled alcohol on her person. Crider told the officer that the shooting was an accident and that Kerlin had pulled the trigger. She also told the officer that Kerlin had grabbed her by the hair and held her down and hurt her head, although she declined medical attention.

The bullet caused injuries to Kerlin's stomach, liver, intestines, and colon. Kerlin later was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and manic depressive disorder, and is no longer able to work as a result of the incident.

Based on this information, Crider was indicted for one count of aggravated assault – family violence (Count 1), three counts of aggravated battery – family violence (Counts 2, 3, and 4), and two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony (Counts 5 and 6).

Before trial, the State filed a notice of its intent to introduce evidence of another family violence incident that occurred between Crider and her ex-husband, Bart Beasley, pursuant to OCGA § 24-4-404 (b) (‘‘Rule 404 (b)’’) and OCGA § 24-4-403. At the hearing, Beasley testified about the incident, which occurred in February 2011, during which Crider "attacked [him]." Crider had consumed a large amount of alcohol, and she followed him around the house, insulting him. Beasley went to use the restroom, and Crider flung the door open and punched him in the face. Beasley wrestled her to the ground, and attempted to retreat, but Crider began to attack him again. Beasley pushed her off of him, and she fell and hit her head on the counter. The confrontation continued, and Crider took Beasley's keys and wallet. Eventually, police arrived at the house and spoke to the couple, but neither was arrested.

Beasley testified that it was common in their marriage for Crider to get intoxicated and physically attack him. During these incidents, Crider had never pointed a gun at him, but she had always owned guns, and had retrieved a gun during arguments. He also explained that she previously had taken away his keys and wallet to keep him from leaving the house.

At the Rule 404 (b) hearing, trial counsel successfully argued that the other acts testified to by Beasley were not relevant to prove lack of accident or mistake, and there was a risk that the jury would improperly consider the evidence as highly prejudicial propensity evidence. The trial court ruled further in Crider's favor that the State could not use the other acts evidence in its case-in-chief to prove her intent. However, the trial court ruled that if Crider put forward a self-defense theory at trial,² then the State could introduce this evidence in rebuttal, as it would then become relevant to whether Crider was the primary aggressor and therefore not justified in shooting Kerlin.

At trial, during opening statements, trial counsel explained that the shooting was "a terrible, unfortunate accident, plain and simple." Counsel described Crider's version of events – she and Kerlin were arguing, he became angry, she went into the bedroom to gather some things to leave the house, Kerlin came into the bedroom with his gun drawn, Crider grabbed her gun to defend herself, Kerlin grabbed for her gun, and it accidently discharged. Defense counsel also told the jurors that they would hear testimony from Crider about what happened that night, and they would see evidence that Crider's hand was bruised during the struggle with Kerlin for the gun.

Several witnesses testified for the State, including Kerlin. Kerlin's son also testified that he had witnessed Crider being violent toward his father during their relationship, especially after she had been drinking. After the State rested, the trial court inquired as to whether Crider intended to testify on her own behalf, and defense counsel replied that Crider had not yet decided and wanted to wait until after the other defense witnesses had testified.

Ultimately, the only witness called by the defense was a firearms expert, who testified that there was a shell casing from a bullet that was jammed in Crider's gun, which was consistent with someone having their hand on top of the gun as it was fired. Trial counsel also admitted into evidence via stipulation a fire department incident report, which stated that Kerlin reported at the scene that he and Crider were "wrestling" when "the gun went off accidentally at point blank range."

Just before the defense rested, the parties discussed whether Crider had made a prima facie showing of a self-defense theory. The State argued that she had not, but if the court ruled that she had, it intended to call Crider's ex-husband Beasley in rebuttal to testify about the incidents where she had been drunk and violent in her previous relationship. Trial counsel contended that Crider had made a showing that would allow the jury to consider the self-defense question. The court stated that it had not seen evidence that would support a justification defense, and Crider had not opened the door that would allow the State to call Beasley as a rebuttal witness. The court reserved its final ruling as to instructing the jury on...