Hughs v. State

• Decision Date: 05 October 2021
• Docket Number: S21A0970
• Parties: HUGHS v. The STATE.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

312 Ga. 606

864 S.E.2d 59

HUGHS

v.The STATE.

S21A0970

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Decided: October 5, 2021

Lyndsey Alaine Hix, Augusta Judicial Circuit Public Defender's Office, 902 Greene Street, Augusta, Georgia 30901, for Appellant.

Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula Khristian Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Christopher M. Carr, Attorney General, Meghan Hobbs Hill, Assistant Attorney General, Department of Law, 40 Capitol Square, S.W., Atlanta, Georgia 30334, Joshua Bradley Smith, A.D.A., Jared Tolton Williams, District Attorney, Augusta Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office, 735 James Brown Blvd., Suite 2400, Augusta, Georgia 30901, for Appellee.

Colvin, Justice.

Following a jury trial, Jerome Edward Hughs was convicted of felony murder in connection with the death of Kaidence Alexander, an 18-month-old child.¹ Hughs claims that the evidence presented at his trial was insufficient to support his conviction, that he was denied constitutionally effective assistance of counsel, and that the trial court erred when it gave a so-called " Allen charge" during jury deliberations. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

1. Hughs contends that the evidence presented at trial was constitutionally insufficient to sustain his murder conviction. He also argues that the evidence of his guilt was insufficient as a matter of Georgia statutory law, see OCGA § 24-14-6, because the State's case was based solely on circumstantial evidence and did not exclude the reasonable hypotheses that someone or something else caused Kaidence's death. We address each claim in turn.

(a) Hughs claims that the evidence was legally insufficient to support his conviction for felony murder predicated on cruelty to children in the second degree because the State failed to establish every element of the crime charged. We disagree. When evaluating the sufficiency of evidence as a matter of constitutional due process, "the relevant question is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt." (Emphasis omitted.) Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U. S. 307, 319 (III) (B), 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). "This Court does not reweigh evidence or resolve conflicts in testimony; instead, evidence is reviewed in a light most favorable to the verdict, with deference to the jury's assessment of the weight and credibility of the evidence." (Citation and punctuation omitted.) Hayes v. State , 292 Ga. 506, 506, 739 S.E.2d 313 (2013).

Viewed in this light, the evidence presented at trial showed that, in the summer of 2012, Jasmine Fobb surrendered guardianship of her two small children (Kaidence and her sister) to Danielle and Jerome Hughs, Fobb's sister and brother-in-law.² In the months leading up to Kaidence's death, Fobb and the children's biological father, Patrick Alexander, remained in contact with their children. On February 14, 2013, Fobb and Alexander traveled to Augusta to see their children, and they stayed with the Hughs family during their visit.

On the afternoon of February 20, 2013, emergency services were dispatched to the Hughses’ home in Richmond County in response to a call concerning an unresponsive 18-month-old child. Emergency personnel entered the home and found Kaidence lying motionless and supine on an ottoman. While there were no obvious outward signs of trauma or injury, the child was not breathing and had no pulse. They placed Kaidence in an ambulance, administered CPR, and were able to regain a pulse about eight to ten minutes before they arrived at the hospital. Kaidence was then intubated, placed on mechanical ventilator

support, and admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit ("PICU"). Upon her initial examination, Dr. Remuka Mehta, Kaidence's treating physician, observed fingertip shaped bruises on Kaidence's chest and reported suspected child abuse to child services.

While in the PICU, Kaidence remained unresponsive, and her brain function stopped.

The child's brain had swollen so much that it could no longer be contained by her skull, and CT scans

showed chronic subdural bleeding and fluid collected in the area around the bleed. Based upon this, Dr. Mehta concluded that an acute illness or injury had occurred shortly before Kaidence's arrival at the hospital. Dr. Mehta also noted that Kaidence had numerous fractured ribs in various stages of healing, and ruled out CPR as a cause based upon the posterior location of the rib fractures.

Kaidence was officially pronounced dead on February 27, 2013. Dr. Lora Darrisaw performed the autopsy and located 14 rib fractures in different stages of healing, ranging from one to 21 days old. Kaidence also had a new injury to the tip of her tongue that had necrotized³ due to insufficient oxygen and blood flow. Dr. Darrisaw noted that the child had bitten her tongue so hard it nearly severed the tip from the rest of the organ and opined that the tongue injury was caused by an intentional and forceful manual compression of Kaidence's mouth. Dr. Darrisaw further noted several impact sites to the child's skull, which caused hemorrhaging and swelling in the brain

. Dr. Darrisaw opined that the cause and manner of Kaidence's death was homicide by manual asphyxia with inflicted head trauma causing cerebral edema.

Officers spoke with Fobb and Alexander, who were in the home on the date of the incident.⁴ Officers learned that, on the morning of February 20, Kaidence had been acting fussy and complaining about trouble with her ear. Alexander was watching television on the sofa in the living room, and Fobb was in the kitchen, preparing some juice for the children, when Hughs came into the kitchen and asked why Kaidence was upset. Fobb stated that she did not know, explained that the child was probably just being whiny, and noted that she had just checked Kaidence's diaper. Hughs then turned to Kaidence and said, "Girl, come on," and Kaidence followed Hughs into his bedroom.

Approximately two minutes later, Hughs summoned Fobb into the bedroom. When Fobb entered the room, Kaidence was lying at the foot of the bed, seemingly asleep. Hughs showed Fobb that the child had a dirty diaper and posited that that was why she had been fussy. Hughs then lifted the child from the bed and handed her to Fobb, who noticed that the child felt heavy. Fobb attempted to get a response from the child by tapping her leg, suctioning mucus from her nose, and splashing her with water, but Kaidence remained unresponsive. Upon noticing that the child was not breathing, Alexander called 911, and he and Fobb moved the child to the ottoman in the living room to provide CPR until emergency services arrived.

Officers also interviewed Hughs about the day of the incident. He denied harming the child in any way and accused Fobb and Alexander of abusing Kaidence on prior occasions. Still, Hughs admitted to disciplining Kaidence's older sister with a belt. Hughs told officers that, on the day of the incident, he was awakened by the sound of Kaidence crying. When he went to see what the issue was, he found Fobb holding the crying child. He reprimanded Fobb for constantly picking up Kaidence and told Fobb to put Kaidence down. Thereafter, Hughs stated that Kaidence followed him into his bedroom, at which point he discovered that the child was wearing a dirty diaper. He admitted to being alone with the child before summoning Fobb into the room to show her Kaidence's diaper. Hughs told officers that, when Fobb entered the bedroom, Kaidence was already lying on Hughs's bed, seemingly asleep, and that is when Fobb noticed that the child was unresponsive.

Although the evidence did not show exactly how Kaidence's fatal injuries were inflicted, Hughs admitted that he escorted a walking, talking Kaidence into his bedroom and that he was alone with her prior to the child being found limp and unresponsive. Moreover, the medical experts testified at trial to seeing numerous signs of abuse – i.e., rib fractures

in various stages of healing and fingerprint marks to Kaidence's chest – and that Kaidence's head and mouth injuries were inflicted a short time prior to her arrival at the emergency room for treatment. Based on the foregoing, a rational jury could conclude that Hughs, acting with criminal negligence, caused Kaidence, an 18-month-old child, cruel or excessive physical or mental pain that led to her death. See OCGA § 16-5-1 (c) (felony murder occurs when a person "causes the death of another human being irrespective of malice" during the commission of a felony); OCGA § 16-5-70 (c) ("Any person commits the offense of cruelty to children in the second degree when such person with criminal negligence causes a child under the age of 18 cruel or excessive physical or mental pain."). Accordingly, the jury was authorized to find Hughs guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of felony murder predicated on cruelty to children in the second degree. See Jackson , 443 U. S. at 319 (III) (B), 99 S.Ct. 2781.

(b) Hughs also claims that, as a matter of Georgia statutory law, the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to sustain his conviction because the evidence of his guilt was entirely circumstantial and did not exclude other, reasonable hypotheses. Under OCGA § 24-14-6,

in order to convict [Hughs] of the crimes based solely upon circumstantial evidence, the proven facts had to be consistent with the hypothesis of [his] guilt and exclude every reasonable hypothesis save that of [his] guilt. Not every hypothesis is reasonable, and the evidence does not have to exclude every conceivable inference or hypothesis; it need rule out only those that are reasonable.

(Citation and punctuation omitted.)

Cochran v. State , 305 Ga. 827, 829 (1), 828 S.E.2d 338 (2019). Whether the evidence excludes every other reasonable hypothesis is a question for the jury, see Collett v. State , 305 Ga. 853,...