Jenkins v. State
| Decision Date | 08 January 1996 |
| Docket Number | No. S95A1463,S95A1463 |
| Parties | JENKINS v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Thomas G. Ledford, Albany, for Jenkins.
Britt R. Priddy, Dist. Atty., Albany, Michael J. Bowers, Atty. Gen., Susan V. Boleyn, Senior Asst. Atty. Gen., Paige Reese Whitaker, Asst. Atty. Gen., Department of Law, Atlanta, for State.
Eric Shun Jenkins was convicted of malice murder in the shooting death of his girlfriend's mother; aggravated assault; and aggravated assault on a police officer. 1 His sole enumeration of error is directed to the sufficiency of the evidence.
Viewed in favor of the verdict, the evidence shows that Jenkins went to the murder victim's home in search of his girlfriend, Teresa. When the victim informed Jenkins that she did not know Teresa's whereabouts, he became angry and insisted that she tell him. There had been previous altercations between Jenkins and the victim concerning his relationship with Teresa.
Jenkins went into a back bedroom and the victim followed. The victim's sister and a friend were present in an adjoining bedroom during the encounter. They overheard Jenkins in an angry tone again demanding to know Teresa's whereabouts. The victim asked Jenkins what was going on between Jenkins and Teresa. He responded, "When Teresa comes home, tell her I want my two rings and she wants it to be over with." Three gunshots were then fired. It was established that the victim had been shot two times at close range--once in the head and once in the lower back. It was the opinion of the State's pathologist and the GBI ballistics expert that the victim was holding her hand above her head in a defensive position when the shot which struck her head was fired. There was no evidence of a struggle.
Jenkins left the victim's home. A police officer on patrol in the vicinity of the homicide made a routine traffic stop of a vehicle. The driver fled from the car into nearby woods. He was carrying a brown paper bag and was dressed in clothing which matched the description given by the victim's sister of the clothing Jenkins had been wearing at the time of the shooting. An insurance card bearing the name, Eric Jenkins, was found inside the abandoned vehicle. Jenkins later appeared at a friend's house. He was carrying a 9-millimeter gun and he informed his friend that he had just shot the victim in the head. Jenkins then telephoned his stepfather and related the same information. His stepfather came to the friend's home and drove away with Jenkins. The...
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Pickren v. State
...was in uniform sufficient to establish defendant should have known the victim was a peace officer). See also Jenkins v. State, 266 Ga. 214, 215, 465 S.E.2d 432 (1996). 2. In a related enumeration of error, appellant contends reversible error was committed in the trial court's instructions t......
- Davis v. State