Guyse v. State
| Decision Date | 01 March 2010 |
| Docket Number | No. S09A1903.,S09A1903. |
| Citation | 690 S.E.2d 406 |
| Parties | GUYSE v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
690 S.E.2d 406
GUYSE
v.
The STATE.
No. S09A1903.
Supreme Court of Georgia.
March 1, 2010.
Barbara B. Claridge, Augusta, for appellant.
Ashley Wright, District Attorney, Charles R. Sheppard, Asst. Dist. Atty., Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Elizabeth A. Harris, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.
NAHMIAS, Justice.
In 2006, James Nicholas Guyse was convicted at a bench trial of felony murder and other crimes arising out of a drunk driving spree that left one victim dead, another seriously injured, and four others who barely escaped head-on collisions with Guyse. On appeal, Guyse contends that the evidence was insufficient to support his felony murder and five aggravated assault convictions. Guyse admits he committed a crime that resulted in the death of a human being, but he claims the crime was first degree vehicular homicide, not felony murder. As explained below, the evidence was sufficient to enable the trial court to find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Guyse possessed the intent necessary to commit aggravated assault and felony murder. Accordingly, the trial court did not err in denying his motion for directed verdict of acquittal, and we affirm.1
1. The evidence at trial, viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, showed as follows. On Thursday, October 14, 2004, Guyse's wife picked him up at a friend's house after work around 7:30 p.m. Guyse, a heavy drinker, was already drunk, and his wife could smell alcohol on him. She drove him home, but Guyse left around 10:30 or 11:00 p.m. in his wife's silver 2003 Mitsubishi Galant. Guyse called his wife several times over the next hour or so, sounding even drunker than he did when he left home. The last call was sometime around midnight.
Guyse stopped at the Golden Pantry gas station and convenience store on Mike Padgett Highway and bought two Smirnoff alcoholic beverages. Guyse was so drunk when he left the store that he mistook the store clerk's 1966 Ford Mustang for his wife's 2003 Mitsubishi Galant. Two customers tried to convince Guyse that he was too drunk to drive, but Guyse insisted that he was fine. They relented only when he agreed to allow one of them to follow him home, but Guyse spun out and sped off onto Mike Padgett Highway just as the man was getting in his car to follow him.
Guyse's first victim, Brian Joseph Daniel, was driving on Mike Padgett Highway that night. Daniel passed two police cars that had pulled a vehicle over on the side of the road. Shortly thereafter, Daniel saw Guyse's Mitsubishi (which he later identified) pass him going the opposite direction towards the two police cars. As Daniel looked in his rearview mirror, he saw Guyse make a u-turn on the four-lane highway and fall in behind him to avoid passing the two police cars. Guyse tailgated Daniel, cut him off
The impact knocked Daniel to the far side of the road across three lanes of traffic, where his engine stalled. As Daniel tried to restart the truck, he saw Guyse make a u-turn and speed directly towards him. Fortunately, Daniel was able to restart his vehicle, and he avoided a head-on collision with Guyse only by swerving sharply to the side at the last second. Guyse then made another u-turn and chased Daniel at speeds up to 100 miles per hour. Daniel eventually escaped and drove to his mother's house. During the confrontation, Daniel managed to place two 911 calls. Three other 911 calls came in around the same time about a car forcing people off the road on Mike Padgett Highway.
Deputy Darrell Adams of the Richmond County Sheriff's Office responded to Daniel's 911 calls. On the way to Daniel's mother's house, a report came over the police radio about a car wreck on Mike Padgett Highway involving a small, light-colored vehicle. Deputy Adams did not immediately make the connection between Daniel and the car wreck on Mike Padgett Highway. Once it became clear how close the two incidents were in time and place, Deputy Adams asked Daniel to describe the vehicle that rammed him. Daniel said it was a tan, beige, or golden colored Mitsubishi, and Deputy Adams asked him to go to the crash site to see if the car that had chased him was involved in the wreck. Daniel followed Deputy Adams to the scene of the crash, where he identified the silver 2003 Mitsubishi Galant driven by Guyse as the vehicle that chased him and rammed his truck earlier.
Within minutes of the confrontation with Daniel, Guyse had come across three other vehicles on Mike Padgett Highway that were driving in the opposite direction. Reginald C. Lewis was driving in the far-right lane on his side of the road when he saw Guyse jerk the steering wheel abruptly and cross the median towards him. Lewis avoided a head-on collision only by swerving off the road in the nick of time. Guyse drove back to the far-right lane on the correct side of the road before again veering sharply into oncoming traffic, barely avoiding a head-on collision with Nancy and Anthony Price's jeep due to quick evasive action by Ms. Price.
Doris Harris, who was behind the Prices in a Honda Accord, was not so lucky. Harris saw Guyse's headlights coming towards her, but before she could get out of the way, Guyse slammed into her car head-on. Ms. Harris suffered severe, permanent injuries. Her 17-year-old daughter, Janay Levy, was killed. Guyse had a blood alcohol concentration of...
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