Hartsfield v. State

• Decision Date: 28 March 2014
• Docket Number: No. S13A1608.,S13A1608.
• Citation: Hartsfield v. State, 294 Ga. 883, 757 S.E.2d 90 (Ga. 2014)
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court
• Parties: HARTSFIELD v. The STATE.

294 Ga. 883

757 S.E.2d 90

HARTSFIELD

v.The STATE.

No. S13A1608.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

March 28, 2014.

Lynn M. Kleinrock, Atlanta, for Appellant.

Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Deputy Atty. Gen., Paula Khristian Smith, Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen., Samuel S. Olens, Atty. Gen., Jerry W. Chappell, II, Asst. Atty. Gen., Atlanta, GA, Elizabeth A. Baker, sst. Dist. Atty., Jonesboro, GA, Leonora Grant, Asst. Dist. Atty., Robert D. James, Jr., Dist. Atty., Decatur, GA, for Appellee.

HUNSTEIN, Justice.

Appellant Deanthony Hartsfield was convicted of felony murder, armed robbery, and aggravated assault in connection with the June 29, 2010 shooting death of Dominique George. Hartsfield appeals the denial of his motion for new trial and his conviction and sentence, asserting that the trial court erred by denying his motion for mistrial and that trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance. Finding no error, we affirm.¹

Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury's verdict, the evidence adduced at trial established as follows. On the afternoon of June 28, 2010, teenagers Ladrina Johnson and Monesha Lackley went to George's apartment at the Avondale Station Apartments complex in Decatur, where George lived with his cousin, Brandon Smith. The four of them went to the pool and afterward returned to the apartment to smoke marijuana, eat, watch movies, and play video games. At some point during the evening, Smith caught George flashing his money in front of one of the girls. The following morning, Smith left for work, leaving the other three in the apartment's living room. Johnson, Lackley, and George smoked marijuana that morning.

At some point, Johnson walked out of the apartment with George's cell phone and went through George's text messages. Lackley eventually joined Johnson, and Johnson showed Lackley a text message from Smith calling Lackley a derogatory name because she would not have sex with Smith. Johnson told Lackley that they could get back at George by robbing him, and Lackley agreed. Lackley and Johnson then went back upstairs to the apartment.

Johnson saw George sitting on the floor of his apartment with his money. She left the apartment again with George's phone and went downstairs to call Vincent Thomas. Johnson told Thomas where she was and where everything was located in the apartment so that Thomas, Robert Jones, and Hartsfield could rob George. Johnson then returned upstairs to the apartment and asked George why he did not have a gun. George responded that he did not need a gun. One of the three men called George's phone, and Johnson took the call downstairs. She gave Hartsfield directions to George's apartment. Johnson and Lackley then left the apartment and walked to a nearby Waffle House to meet Thomas, Jones, and Hartsfield.

Hartsfield arrived at the Waffle House driving a green Mazda Protege in bad condition, with Jones and Thomas riding as passengers. Johnson recognized the car as belonging to Hartsfield, having ridden in it with him before. After Lackley and Johnson got into the car, Johnson told everyone where George's apartment was located, where George kept money and marijuana in the apartment, including in his pants pockets, and that George did not have a gun. Johnson saw that Jones and Hartsfield had guns in the car.

Hartsfield drove the five of them to George's apartment. Jones and Hartsfield got out of the car and went to the apartment, while the other three remained in the car. Approximately 10 to 15 minutes later, both Lackley and Johnson heard three gunshots. Jones and Hartsfield returned to the car about five minutes later carrying guns and the shorts that George had been wearing earlier that morning. As they drove away, Hartsfield said, “Everyone in ... this car has a murder charge right now, so no one needs to say anything.”

Hartsfield drove the car to the home of Jessica Jones, who was Robert Jones' sister and the mother of Hartsfield's two children. There, Hartsfield split up George's money and marijuana. Johnson received less than $100 and Lackley received $20 to $30. The girls stayed at Jessica Jones' house and smoked marijuana before leaving later that day.

The first officer on the scene found George's apartment with the door open, music blaring, and no signs of forced entry. George was in his bathroom in a fetal position, bleeding from gunshot wounds. The officer observed that the body was cold to the touch. The apartment appeared to the officer to have been searched. The medical examiner testified that George had been shot three times and that he died from a gunshot wound to the chest. George also had scrapes on his face and his knees indicating an assault before his death. A GBI firearms examiner testified that there were a minimum of two guns fired at the scene; no guns were recovered.

Detectives met with Smith, and he identified Johnson and Lackley as the women who were at the apartment with George the morning of the shooting. During police interviews, Johnson and Lackley each implicated Hartsfield in the crimes. Police issued an arrest warrant for Hartsfield in July 2010, and he was arrested in Texas on April 8, 2011.

1. Though Hartsfield has not enumerated the general grounds, we find that the evidence as summarized above was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Hartsfield 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); see also Vega v. State, 285 Ga. 32, 33(1), 673 S.E.2d 223 (2009) (“ ‘It was for the jury to determine the credibility of the witnesses and to resolve any conflicts or inconsistencies in the evidence.’ ”) (citation omitted).

2. Hartsfield argues that the trial court erred by not granting his motion for a mistrial after the State presented improper character evidence against a key defense witness. Johnson's mother, Shaundette Watkins, testified on behalf of Hartsfield, that when Johnson returned home several days after the incident, she started crying and erasing messages from her phone and told Watkins what had occurred on June 29. According to Watkins, Johnson said that only four people were in the car—Thomas, Jones, Lackley, and Johnson—and that Jones and Thomas had gone up to George's apartment. Watkins testified that Johnson never mentioned that Hartsfield had anything to do with the crimes.

On cross-examination, the State elicited testimony from Watkins conceding that she and Johnson were not close and that Johnson had run away from home several times. The prosecutor then asked Watkins whether part of the reason that she did not have a great relationship with her daughter was because Watkins had been absent from Johnson's life, to which Watkins eventually responded, “Yes, I was gone for seven years.” The prosecutor responded, “Yep. And where were you for that seven years?” Watkins replied that she had been in prison.

Defense counsel objected to the testimony as being irrelevant, but the trial court interrupted his objection, dismissed the jury, and stated that the testimony was improper character evidence because the State could not elicit information from a witness that she had been in prison unless the State intended to impeach the witness with a certified copy of her conviction. The prosecutor asserted that while he was aware that Watkins had a criminal record, he expected her to testify that she had been in North Carolina, and that he had only intended to establish that Watkins had been an absentee parent. At this point, defense counsel moved for a mistrial and a curative instruction if the court denied the motion. The trial court denied Hartsfield's motion for a mistrial, but gave a curative instruction when the jury returned, directing the jury to “totally disregard” the last question from the State and Watkins' response as irrelevant and improper character evidence and to “not consider [the improper evidence] at all in your decision in this case.” The court then admonished the prosecutor and concluded by asking whether any of the jurors had questions about the instruction or could not follow it, to which no one responded. At this point, the State proceeded with its cross-examination.

As an initial matter, because Hartsfield failed to renew his motion for mistrial following the trial court's admonishment and curative instruction, he has waived the issue on appeal.²McCoy v. State, 273 Ga. 568(8), 544 S.E.2d 709 (2001) (where the court gave a curative instruction and the defendant neither objected to the curative instruction or renewed his motion for mistrial, issue not preserved for appellate review); Ford v. State, 269 Ga. 139(3), 498 S.E.2d 58 (1998) (same).

Even if Hartsfield had preserved this issue and assuming Watkins' testimony about her prior conviction was inadmissible, we would find no error in the trial court's denial of the motion for mistrial. “The decision to grant a mistrial is within the discretion of the trial court and will not be disturbed on appeal unless there is a showing that a mistrial is essential to the preservation of the right to a fair trial.” Jackson v. State, 292 Ga. 685, 689(4), 740 S.E.2d 609 (2013). Here, the trial court's immediate curative instruction, striking from the record the prosecutor's question and Watkins' response, and admonishment of the prosecutor in front of the jury preserved Hartsfield's right to a fair trial. Accordingly, the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it denied Hartsfield's motion for a mistrial. See McKibbins v. State, 293 Ga. 843(3)(c), 750 S.E.2d 314 (2013) (no abuse of discretion in denial of a mistrial where the trial court sustained the objection, admonished the prosecuting attorney in the presence of the jury, and told the jury to disregard the statement); cf. Jackson, 292 Ga. at 689, 740 S.E.2d 609 (no abuse of discretion in denying a mistrial where trial court gave curative instructions following a reference to a prior drug...