Greene v. State

• Docket Number: S23A0200
• Decision Date: 21 June 2023
• Citation: 316 Ga. 584,889 S.E.2d 864
• Parties: GREENE v. The STATE.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

316 Ga. 584

889 S.E.2d 864

GREENE v. The STATE.

S23A0200

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Decided: June 21, 2023

James Kenneth Luttrell, P.O. Box 4104, Canton, Georgia 30114, for Appellant.

Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula Khristian Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Christopher M. Carr, Attorney General, Eric Christopher Peters, Assistant Attorney General, Department of Law, 40 Capitol Square, S.W., Atlanta, Georgia 30334, Elizabeth Dalia Racine, Aimee F. Sobhani, A.D.A., Douglas County District Attorney's Office, 8700 Hospital Drive, Douglasville, Georgia 30134, for Appellee.

LaGrua, Justice.

AppellantEric Jackson Greene was convicted of malice murder and theft by taking in connection with the strangling death of Sheila Bryant in January 2019.¹On appeal, Greene contends that the evidence was legally insufficient to support his convictions and that the trial court erred in the following respects: (1) by denying Greene's motion to suppress his statement taken on February 18, 2019; (2) by admitting improper extrinsic evidence; (3) by admitting overly graphic autopsy photographs; (4) by allowing the State to present harmful and non-probative evidence from Greene's cell phone showing that he conducted internet searches pertaining to rape; and (5) by failing to instruct the jury on mere presence and corroboration of a defendant's statement.For the reasons that follow, these claims fail, and we affirm Greene's convictions.

The evidence presented at Greene's trial showed that, on the night of January 23, 2019, Greene—who did not have a permanent residence—stayed at the home of Kenny Bradford.²Christina Norton was also staying at Bradford's house in January 2019, and she testified that, on January 24, she needed a ride to meet with her probation officer, so she texted her friend, Blake Lee, to ask for a ride.Lee did not have a car of his own, but he was living with Bryant—the victim in this case—who did own a car.Lee testified that he asked Bryant if they could give Norton a ride to her probation meeting in Bryant's car, and Bryant agreed.Lee and Bryant arrived at Bradford's house around 3:30 p.m. on January 24.According to Norton, Greene had been hanging out at Bradford's house all day, trying to get a ride to a car lot because he wanted to steal a truck.And, when Lee and Bryant arrived and Greene realized that Bryant owned a car, he asked for Bryant's help to "accomplish this car lot plan" because Greene "needed somebody to be there to test drive [the truck]."Lee testified that he and Bryant did not know Greene, so Lee told Greene they could not help him with his plan.Lee later realized that Greene had talked Bryant into taking him to the car lot because, when they left Bradford's house, Greene rode with them.

Lee testified that, after leaving Bradford's house, he asked Bryant to drop him off at a mobile home park where Zada Price—a woman he knew—lived.According to Lee, after getting dropped off, he could not get in touch with Price, so he went to the home of her neighbor, Greg Jones.Jones testified that Lee ended up staying at his house for "five or six, seven hours," until after 9:30 p.m., trying to reach Price and waiting for Bryant to pick him up.After several hours, Lee assumed that Bryant was not going to "show back up," so he walked back to Bradford's house.Greene and Bryant did not return to Bradford's house that night, and Lee testified that he never saw Bryant again.

At approximately 7:45 the next morning, Bill Messer was driving home from work along West Union Hill Road when he saw "somebody l[y]ing on the side of the road."Messer pulled over and approached the person, noting upon closer examination that it was a woman, lying "face down," whose "underwear was still for the most part up, but her pants were pulled down."Messer, who was a firefighter, "took a radial pulse from both [her] wrists," and after finding no pulse, he called 911.

Law enforcement officers with the Douglas County Sheriff's Office arrived shortly afterwards and also observed a "female l[y]ing face down on the side of the road," with her arms "stretched above her head," her pants and underwear "pulled down below her buttocks," and her "feet elevated in some bushes."Lieutenant Greg Ashcraft, one of the responding officers, testified that the woman also had frost on her jacket, "which told [him]she had been out there a period of time and the moisture had frozen on her."Lieutenant Ashcraft also noticed tire impressions going through the grass close to the body.When officers turned the woman's body over in preparation for removing her from the scene, Lieutenant Ashcraft observed that "a lot of her abdomen area [was] exposed" and that she had "bruising" up towards her "ear area" and "what appeared to be an injury around the neck area," including "sign[s] of a ligature having been used."Lieutenant Ashcraft testified that, on this basis, he believed this woman had died from "ligature strangulation."

Investigator Jay Hayes with the Criminal Investigation Division of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office also responded to the scene and used a mobile fingerprint identification device to identify the deceased as Bryant.At trial, the medical examiner testified that Bryant's cause of death was ligature strangulation by a belt or similar object, as demonstrated by "the broad abrasion over a significant portion of the neck" and a "very straight line across the whole front of the neck."According to the medical examiner, the strangulation was "forceful," causing "deep tissue damage."The medical examiner also noted bruising on Bryant's extremities, as well as "contusions and superficial abrasions and skin tears on her hands," indicating that she was "in a struggle" and "trying to fight somebody off."The medical examiner also documented "injuries to [ ] Bryant's vagina" consistent with "sexual penetration."

Investigator Hayes testified at trial that Lee was initially a person of interest because he lived with Bryant and was the last person Bryant's daughters had seen with her on January 24.On January 29, 2019, Investigator Hayes interviewed Lee at the Sheriff's Office.During the interview, Lee told Investigator Hayes that Bryant and Greene dropped Lee off at a mobile home park on the afternoon of January 24 and that was the last time he saw Bryant.Lee stated that he hung out at Jones's house because he could not get in touch with Price—the woman he was hoping to see—and after several hours, Lee walked back to Bradford's house.³Based on Lee's cell phone records and witness interviews, Investigator Hayes "eliminate[d]" Lee as a suspect, determining that Lee "wasn't anywhere near" the "area of the crime scene" during the hours in question.Investigator Hayes also learned that Bryant owned a four-door, silver or gray 2010 Mazda 6 sedan that was missing.

During the early morning hours of January 30 or 31, Lee called Investigator Hayes and informed him that Greene had just stopped by Bradford's house and was driving Bryant's car.Norton testified that she also saw Greene in Bryant's car that night, and then, on February 1, she received a text message from Greene at 4:15 a.m., stating that it was "hard to believe [Bryant] got killed."Norton also received a second message from Greene stating that Bryant had told Greene on January 24 that "she was supposed to go meet someone about some pills."

About a week later, on February 7, Officer Timothy Ito with the Paulding County Sheriff's Office responded to "a report of a vehicle parked in front of a residence" in Paulding County"where the male was sleeping in the front seat."When Officer Ito arrived, he observed a man asleep in the front seat of a "gray four door Mazda" sedan.Officer Ito directed the man—later identified as Greene—to exit the vehicle.As Officer Ito was in the process of obtaining Greene's personal information, he received a report that "the vehicle had returned as stolen" and "was connected to a homicide."At that point, "Greene grabbed his phone and took off running," but he tripped and fell down.Officer Ito took Greene into custody and coordinated with Douglas County law enforcement to tow Bryant's vehicle and have Green transported to Douglas County.

Later that same day, Investigator Hayes interviewed Greene.⁴After waiving his Miranda rights, ⁵ Greene told Investigator Hayes that he had borrowed the car he was sleeping in "from a guy named Blake"—later determined to be Blake Lee—about two weeks before.Greene told Investigator Hayes that he met Lee on January 24 when Lee "showed up" at Bradford's house with "an older lady"—later determined to be Bryant—and they gave Greene a ride to a few car lots in Villa Rica and Douglasville for Greene to look for a truck.Greene said that, when they arrived at the last car lot in Douglasville, he"got out of [the car] and they took off on [him]."Greene said his phone was not working, so he had to walk back to Bradford's house.Greene stated that he saw Lee again about "two or three days" later at Bradford's house, and Greene borrowed the car from Lee.

Investigator Hayes confronted Greene with Lee's account of events and advised Greene that Bryant had been murdered.Greene said he did not realize Bryant was dead, denied any involvement in her death, and consented to have a buccal swab of his DNA taken.Greene also gave several differing accounts about how he obtained Bryant's car.In the last account, Greene said that, three days after he visited the car lots with Lee and Bryant, Lee offered to rent him Bryant's car, and Greene agreed to do so.

When Investigator Hayes informed Greene that he would "pull video" surveillance from the various car lots Greene had mentioned, Greene's account changed slightly.Greene said he went to one car lot alone with Bryant because they had dropped Lee off at a store.According to Greene, when they arrived at this car lot, Bryant appeared to...