Gude v. State
| Decision Date | 01 June 2022 |
| Docket Number | S22A0406 |
| Citation | 313 Ga. 859,874 S.E.2d 84 |
| Parties | GUDE v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Jordan Kerry Van Matre, The Law Office of Jordan K. Van Matre, PC, 124 Atlanta Street, McDonough, Georgia 30253, 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, Fani T. Willis, District Attorney, Lyndsey Hurst Rudder, Deputy D.A., Fulton County District Attorney's Office, 136 Pryor Street, 4th Floor, Atlanta, Georgia 30303, Kevin Christopher Armstrong, Senior A.D.A., Fulton County District Attorney's Office, 136 Pryor Street, 4th Floor, Atlanta, Georgia 30306, for Appellee.
A Fulton County jury found Marquayvian Gude guilty of malice murder and other offenses in connection with the shooting death of Devontavious McClain. Following the denial of his motion for new trial, Gude appeals, contending that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support his convictions and that the trial court abused its discretion by admitting an "in-life" photograph of McClain during the testimony of McClain's mother and denying his motion for mistrial regarding the same, permitting the State to elicit hearsay testimony from McClain's sister, and overruling his objection to an officer's testimony and giving an insufficient curative instruction. Gude also argues that the trial court erred when it ruled he had not timely moved for immunity from prosecution under OCGA § 16-3-24.2 or established his justification defense by a preponderance of the evidence. We affirm.1
1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdicts, the evidence presented at trial showed the following. On April 21, 2013, McClain's mother, Laura McClain, reported to the police that McClain, who lived in Griffin, was missing. She described the car he was driving as a silver 2004 Chevrolet Impala LS. Initial efforts by the police to locate McClain were unsuccessful.
On June 14, 2013, while responding to an unrelated matter by helicopter, a pilot for the Atlanta Police Department saw a vehicle "tucked away" behind an abandoned apartment complex in northwest Fulton County. The pilot testified that, from the air, the vehicle "looked out of place" because it was "shiny" and "clean" and had not been "stripped" whereas the apartment was abandoned and had overgrown weeds.
When another police officer arrived at the location, he discovered an abandoned, silver Chevrolet Impala behind the apartment complex where it was not visible from the road. The vehicle's windows were down, pools of rainwater were found inside the vehicle, and there were flies and a smell of "something decomposing" surrounding the car. Other officers responded to the scene. One of them noted the "unmistakable smell of rotting flesh." When the officers opened the trunk of the vehicle, they discovered a blanket covering a "badly decomposed body," infested with maggots and flies.
The license plate number of the vehicle was linked to McClain, and the vehicle's make, model, and color matched the description given by McClain's mother. While processing the vehicle, the police discovered cleaning supplies in the back seat of the car and a roll of black duct tape on the floorboard of the front passenger's side of the vehicle.
The body was later identified as McClain. The medical examiner who performed the autopsy on McClain determined that the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head and that the manner of death was homicide.
McClain's cell phone records showed that, on April 20 and 21, 2013, he drove from Griffin to Atlanta on I-75, ultimately arriving at Center Hill Park in Atlanta. Gude's cell phone records showed a text message conversation between him and McClain during this time. The conversation indicated that McClain was on his way to meet with Gude, whom he had met through an online dating application. Through that dating application, McClain pretended to be a woman named "Beautiful Nicole" to meet other men.
Based on information obtained by Gude's cell phone service provider, the police obtained his address, which was an apartment in a complex on Hollywood Road in northwest Atlanta. The complex is located less than a quarter of a mile from the apartment complex where the abandoned vehicle was discovered, and less than half a mile from Center Hill Park, the last place McClain's phone was detected. On July 4, 2013, the police executed a search warrant at Gude's residence and found a roll of black duct tape that was "very similar" to the one found in McClain's car.
Damien Gude (Gude's father) and Santrice Washington (Damien's former girlfriend) both lived at the apartment with Gude in 2013. They both saw Gude driving McClain's car and recalled that the car had been parked at the apartment complex where they lived throughout the last week of April 2013, which was around the time McClain was reported missing. Sometime later, they both smelled a strong, foul odor coming from the trunk of the car.
Washington testified that she thought the smell was coming from "a dead body." When she asked Gude about the smell, he told her that it was from mildew that had formed after water got into the back seat of the car. Washington added that she had seen Gude in possession of a black handgun. She also told the police that she had two rolls of black duct tape, but that one of the rolls was missing.
At trial, Damien testified that he had also seen Gude with a black gun. Gude did not have a car of his own, and when Damien and Washington asked him where he got it, Gude told them that it belonged to his girlfriend. Damien also testified that when he asked Gude about the smell coming from the car, Gude "didn't really have" a response. The day after Damien asked Gude about the smell, the car was gone, and Damien never saw it again. Damien testified that Gude had never told him that Gude killed someone or asked him to help Gude get rid of a body and that he had never helped Gude do that.
Gude was arrested and, after receiving Miranda warnings,2 agreed to be interviewed by the police. During the interview, Gude told the police that he met a person online whom he believed to be a woman and arranged to meet her in Atlanta. When he got into McClain's car in Center Hill Park, he realized that the person was a male. He told McClain that he was not gay and was not interested in having sex with him. McClain then drove Gude to a gas station in Griffin, at which point McClain attempted to get Gude to exit the vehicle. Gude protested and asked to be driven home. According to Gude, at some point, either on the ride back or when they arrived at Center Hill Park, McClain became "sexually aggressive" toward Gude, grabbing him and trying to choke him. Gude told the officer that he was afraid and that he shot McClain, ran away, and disposed of the gun in the woods in Center Hill Park. Gude also admitted that he later attempted to use McClain's debit card at a nearby Family Dollar store.
McClain's bank records showed that his debit card was used once on the afternoon of April 21, at a store called Stop & Shop at West End, and again on April 23, at a Family Dollar store in Atlanta. Both transactions were declined due to lack of funds in McClain's account.
At trial, Gude testified as follows. He met McClain at Center Hill Park, brought his handgun to the encounter, and, upon returning to Center Hill Park after McClain drove him to Griffin, shot McClain after McClain attempted to grab his "crotch" twice and then his neck. He told his sister and Damien about the shooting that night, and Damien offered to help him "get rid of the evidence." Damien got a tarp and a roll of black duct tape, and Gude and Damien went back to where McClain's car was parked at Center Hill Park. Gude and Damien put the body in the trunk of McClain's car and placed the tarp over the body. Gude and Damien then drove to the abandoned apartment complex (with Damien driving McClain's car and Gude driving Damien's truck). Together, they took McClain's body out of the trunk of McClain's car and placed him in the bushes at the abandoned apartment complex. Gude took McClain's wallet and Damien took McClain's cell phone from the front console of McClain's car before the two drove back to the Hollywood Road apartment in Damien's truck.
Gude argues that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support his convictions for malice murder, armed robbery, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony because not all reasonable explanations aside from his guilt were disproven by the State. Although Gude does not cite OCGA § 24-14-6 in his brief, he specifically argues that the evidence presented at trial did not exclude the reasonable hypothesis that Gude defended himself after being "catfished,"3 sexually attacked, and falsely imprisoned in McClain's car. We disagree.
When evaluating the sufficiency of evidence as a matter of constitutional due process, we must determine whether a rational trier of fact could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. See Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U. S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). In making that determination, "we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, and we put aside any questions about conflicting evidence, the credibility of witnesses, or the weight of the evidence, leaving the resolution of such things to the discretion of the [jury]." (Citation and punctuation omitted.)
Wilkerson v. State , 307 Ga. 574, 574, 837 S.E.2d 300 (2019). "As long as there is some competent evidence, even if contradicted, to support each fact necessary to make out the State's case, the jury's verdict will be upheld." (Citation and punctuation omitted.) Scott v. State , 309 Ga. 764, 766 (1), 848 S.E.2d 448 (2020).
Moreover, if there is...
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