James v. State, S02A0844.

• Decision Date: 24 June 2002
• Docket Number: No. S02A0844.,S02A0844.
• Citation: 565 S.E.2d 802,275 Ga. 387
• Parties: JAMES v. The STATE.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

565 S.E.2d 802

275 Ga. 387

JAMES v. The STATE.

No. S02A0844.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

June 24, 2002.

Reconsideration Denied July 26, 2002.

David D. Bishop, Marietta, for appellee.

Paul L. Howard, Jr., Dist. Atty., Marc A. Mallon, Asst. Dist. Atty., Bettieanne C. Hart, Deputy Dist. Atty., Thurbert E. Baker, Atty. Gen., Tammie J. Philbrick, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

HUNSTEIN, Justice.

Kristie James was sentenced to life imprisonment for the shooting death of Ricky Early. She appeals from the denial of her amended motion for new trial.¹ Finding no reversible error, we affirm.

1. The evidence presented at trial authorized the jury to find that the 15-year-old appellant had recently moved out of her southeast Atlanta home and into the residence across the street with her friend and co-defendant Keishua Zeigler. Appellant and the murder victim knew each other and on the day of the murder had been involved in an argument. That same day appellant sent the victim a telephone page. In response to the page, the victim met appellant and Zeigler at Zeigler's residence. The victim, appellant and Zeigler got into the victim's car and drove away. When the car was only a short distance from the residence appellant pulled out a gun and pointed it at the victim, prompting him to say to appellant, "Oh, bitch, you going to shoot me?" When the vehicle stopped at the next stop sign appellant placed the gun at the victim's temple and pulled the trigger. Appellant and Zeigler then ran back to Zeigler's house where the investigating officers found them after eyewitness information identified appellant and Zeigler as being involved in the shooting. The victim died after being on life-support. Expert medical testimony established that the bullet which killed the victim entered his temple and damaged the frontal lobe of his brain and caused skull fractures and hemorrhaging. During the police interrogation appellant gave an audio taped confession in which she told police that she had shot the victim. However, at trial appellant denied any involvement in the shooting claiming instead that Zeigler "came out of nowhere" and shot the victim and then coerced appellant into giving a false confession.

Viewed in a light most favorable to the verdict, we find the evidence was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find appellant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes for which she was convicted. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).

2. After conducting a hearing pursuant to Jackson v. Denno, 378 U.S. 368, 84 S.Ct. 1774, 12 L.Ed.2d 908 (1964), and after considering the nine factors set forth in Riley v. State, 237 Ga. 124, 128, 226 S.E.2d 922 (1976) for determining the voluntariness of a juvenile's incriminating statement, the trial admitted appellant's custodial statement.² See also State v. McBride, 261 Ga. 60, 63-64(2)(b), 401 S.E.2d 484 (1991). The trial court determined that the evidence established that appellant's parents were informed by the police of appellant's arrest and interrogation and that they waived their right to be present and participate during the interrogation; that appellant who was 15 years old at the time and educated through the ninth grade had an appreciation for the consequences of making a statement without an attorney or a parent present during the custodial interrogation and knowingly waived her rights; and that the interview was short and unintrusive. The trial court sits as the fact-finder in a Jackson-Denno hearing and its resolution of factual issues will be upheld by the appellate court unless it is clearly erroneous. J.E.W. v. State, 256 Ga. 464(2), 349 S.E.2d 713 (1986). Considering the totality of the circumstances, Smith v. State, 263 Ga. 363(2), 434 S.E.2d 465 (1993); Riley, supra, 237 Ga. at 128,226 S.E.2d 922, we conclude that appellant knowingly and intelligently waived her rights and uphold the trial court's finding that the confession should not be suppressed.

3. Even assuming, arguendo, that it was error for appellant's tape-recorded statement to go out with the jury during deliberations, see Fields v. State, 266 Ga. 241(2), 466 S.E.2d 202 (1996); compare Lane v. State, 247 Ga. 19(4), 273 S.E.2d 397 (1981), because of the other overwhelming evidence in the case against appellant, we find it highly probable that the error did not contribute to the judgment. Fields, supra 266 Ga. at (2), 466 S.E.2d 202; Owens v. State, 248 Ga. 629, 631, 284 S.E.2d 408 (1981).

4. During trial, appellant's co-defendant entered a guilty plea to hindering the apprehension or punishment of a criminal. Appellant asked the court to conduct an in-camera inspection of the State's file and to seal the file for the purpose of determining whether the agreement with the co-defendant had been achieved prior to the commencement of the trial and to also determine whether anything in the co-defendant's statement was exculpatory. An inspection of the prosecutor's file was unnecessary since the entire file was open and available to appellant, see Crowe v. State, 265 Ga. 582(8), 458 S.E.2d 799 (1995); appellant had already reviewed the co-defendant's statement; and the existence of an agreement before trial amounts to mere speculation on the part of appellant.

5. In a pretrial hearing conducted on appellant's notice of intent to present evidence of acts of violence by the victim toward a third party, appellant presented testimony regarding an incident in which the victim had been convicted of armed robbery in order to show that the crime met the exception to the rule prohibiting...