Graves v. State
| Decision Date | 07 March 2016 |
| Docket Number | No. S15A1357.,S15A1357. |
| Citation | 298 Ga. 551,783 S.E.2d 891 |
| Parties | GRAVES v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Jennifer F. Block, Cherokee Circuit Public Defender's Office, Cartersville, for appellant.
Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen., Samuel S. Olens, Atty. Gen., Paula Khristian Smith, Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen., Department of Law, Paul L. Howard Jr., Dist. Atty., Paula Khristian Smith, Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen., Marc A. Mallon, Sr. Asst. Dist. Atty., Paige Reese Whitaker, for appellee.
Appellant Demarcus Graves was convicted of malice murder and related offenses in connection with the shooting death of Samuel Landers. Graves now appeals his convictions on the grounds that the evidence was insufficient, that the trial court improperly admitted similar transaction evidence, and that he was entitled to a mistrial after the State elicited improper character evidence. Though we find no merit in Graves' enumerations, we do find error in certain aspects of Graves' sentences, and we must, therefore, vacate and remand for resentencing.1
Viewed in a light most favorable to the jury's verdicts, the evidence adduced at trial established as follows. In September 2006, law enforcement responded to a 911 call reporting a shooting at the Colony Square Apartment Complex in Fulton County, Georgia; the caller reported seeing two men running from the shooting, a taller man with dreadlocks or braids, and a shorter man who wore his hair in twists. At the scene, law enforcement officers discovered Landers in the driver's seat of his well-maintained Chevrolet El Camino, dead from multiple gunshot wounds. In February 2007, Landers' family offered a $5,000 reward in an effort to help solve the murder. Shortly thereafter, Jabarie Glover came forward and met with investigators. According to Glover, Graves and a second man, Jasper Adams, had admitted to him that they decided to rob Landers after he arrived at the apartment complex to buy marijuana. Glover reported that Adams got into the passenger side of Landers' vehicle with a gun, that Adams and Landers wrestled for the gun, and that Graves, upon seeing the struggle, walked over to the vehicle, grabbed the gun from the men and shot Landers. In February 2008, federal inmate Autrey Love reported to investigators that Graves had made incriminating statements to him while both men were in federal custody in Atlanta. According to Love, Graves admitted that, while selling drugs at the Colony Square apartments, he and Adams decided to rob the victim of his El Camino. According to Love, Graves reported that Adams entered the passenger side of Landers' vehicle with a gun, the two men struggled for the weapon, Graves grabbed the gun through the open driver-side window during the struggle, and Graves "dumped" the gun into Landers.
Graves and Adams were subsequently indicted on malice murder and other offenses in connection with Landers' murder; Adams negotiated a plea agreement with the State, and he agreed to testify against Graves. At trial, Glover recanted his statements, and his prior interviews with investigators were admitted as prior inconsistent statements. Love, on the other hand, testified regarding his conversations with Graves and read for the jury a letter that he had sent to investigators regarding Graves' admissions. Adams testified that, on the day of the murder, he and Graves were at the apartment complex selling drugs when Landers arrived to purchase marijuana; according to Adams, Graves wanted Landers' El Camino and instructed Adams, then 16–years old, to retrieve a pistol stashed in an empty apartment. According to Adams, after he was armed, he jumped in the passenger side of Landers' vehicle and demanded that Landers exit the vehicle; Landers refused, the men struggled, and Graves ended up grabbing the gun and killing Landers. The State also presented testimony that, at the time of the murder, Graves wore his hair in twists and Adams wore dreadlocks. The jury also heard evidence that in May 2006, just months before the murder, Graves was discovered with a concealed handgun and 14 grams of crack cocaine while parked in his El Camino at a property adjacent to the apartment complex where the murder occurred.
1. The evidence as summarized above was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Graves was guilty of the crimes of which he was convicted. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). Though Graves contends that the evidence was insufficient because the State's witnesses were impeached or incredible, it is axiomatic that resolving evidentiary conflicts and assessing witness credibility are within the exclusive province of the jury. See Hampton v. State, 272 Ga. 284(1), 527 S.E.2d 872 (2000).
2. Graves next argues that the trial court erred in admitting testimony regarding the May 2006 incident involving the concealed pistol and crack cocaine.
"In general, evidence of independent offenses committed by a defendant is irrelevant and inadmissible in a trial for a different crime." Pareja v. State, 286 Ga. 117, 119, 686 S.E.2d 232 (2009). In certain cases, however, " ‘[e]vidence of similar crimes (or transactions) is admissible where its relevance to show identity, motive, plan, scheme, bent of mind and course of conduct, outweighs its prejudicial impact.’ " Geiger v. State, 295 Ga. 648, 650(2), 763 S.E.2d 453 (2014).2
Palmer v. State, 271 Ga. 234, 239(8)(a), 517 S.E.2d 502 (1999) (citing Williams v. State, 261 Ga. 640, 642(2)(b), 409 S.E.2d 649 (1991) ). "[A] transaction does not have to mirror every detail in order to authorize its admission; rather, the proper focus is upon the similarities between the incidents and not upon the differences." Lamb v. State, 273 Ga. 729, 731(1), 546 S.E.2d 465 (2001). In reviewing the trial court's admission of similar-transaction evidence, this Court accepts that court's factual findings unless they are clearly erroneous, and we review for abuse of discretion the trial court's ultimate decision to admit evidence that satisfies the three-prong test announced in Williams. See Reed v. State, 291 Ga. 10(3), 727 S.E.2d 112 (2012).
The State offered the evidence regarding the May 2006 incident for the purposes of showing bent of mind and course of conduct, both of which were appropriate purposes for such evidence as the law existed at the time of Graves' trial. See, e.g., Collins v. State, 273 Ga. 93, 94–95, 538 S.E.2d 47 (2000) ().3 Further, through the testimony of an officer with the Atlanta Police Department and records of an earlier conviction, the State presented ample evidence that, in May 2006, Graves was a convicted felon in possession of both a concealed weapon and 14 grams of crack cocaine. Finally, the record supports the trial court's finding that there was sufficient similarity between the May 2006 incident and the charged offenses so that proof of the former tended to prove the latter. Specifically, the May 2006 incident occurred less than six months before the murder, it involved Graves sitting in his El Camino in approximately the same location as the murder and at the same time of day, Graves was armed and in possession of a significant quantity of drugs at that time, and he was in the presence of an individual who was involved in the drug transaction in this case. "Here, the trial court's factual findings were supported by the record, and the court acted well within its discretion in concluding that the similar transaction evidence satisfied the Williams test." Matthews v. State, 294 Ga. 50, 52(3)(a), 751 S.E.2d 78 (2013).
3. Finally, Graves argues that the trial court erroneously...
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