Kegler v. State
Decision Date | 09 September 1996 |
Docket Number | No. S96A0940,S96A0940 |
Citation | 267 Ga. 147,475 S.E.2d 593 |
Parties | KEGLER v. The STATE. |
Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Raymone T. Kegler, Waycross, pro se Appellant.
John Tom Morgan, III, Dist. Atty., Decatur, Michael J. Bowers, Atty. Gen., Department of Law, Atlanta, J. Michael McDaniel, Robert M. Coker, Asst. Dist. Attys., Decatur, for the State.
Christopher Samuel Brasher, Asst. Atty. Gen., Department of Law, Atlanta.
After a jury trial at which he represented himself, Raymone Kegler was found guilty of the following offenses: felony murder while in the commission of an aggravated assault; two counts of armed robbery; and, two counts of false imprisonment. He was sentenced to three concurrent life terms for the murder and armed robberies and to two concurrent 10-year terms for the false imprisonments. He appeals pro se from the judgments of conviction and sentences entered by the trial court on the jury's guilty verdicts. 1
1. The evidence authorized a finding that Kegler, along with his cousin and a friend, broke into the apartment of a suspected drug dealer. With guns drawn, they bound, gagged, and robbed the suspected dealer and another victim. When yet a third victim entered the apartment, he was fatally shot. Kegler's friend gave a post-arrest incriminating statement and testified for the State. After his own arrest, Kegler likewise made an incriminating statement. From a pre-trial photographic line-up and at the subsequent trial, one of the victims positively identified Kegler as a perpetrator. Although Kegler urges on appeal that none of the State's witnesses was credible, the issue of credibility was exclusively for the jury. Cost v. State, 263 Ga. 720(1), 438 S.E.2d 79 (1994). When construed most strongly in support of the jury's guilty verdicts, the evidence was sufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find proof of Kegler's guilt of the murder, armed robberies and false imprisonments beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).
2. Kegler makes several contentions regarding his constitutional right to counsel. However, the record clearly shows that he made a knowing and intelligent pre-trial waiver of that right, having elected to represent himself after the trial court determined that he understood the disadvantages of doing so. Thaxton v. State, 260 Ga. 141, 142(2), 390 S.E.2d 841 (1990). Kegler is not an attorney and therefore he was not entitled to represent himself while also being represented by counsel. Seagraves v. State, 259 Ga. 36, 376 S.E.2d 670 (1989). Since he waived his right to counsel and proceeded pro se, Kegler cannot raise an ineffective assistance of counsel claim. Mullins v. Lavoie, 249 Ga. 411, 290 S.E.2d 472 (1982).
3. Although Kegler urges error in the State's opening statement and closing argument, a transcript of neither has been provided. The burden is on the complaining party, Wright v. State, 215 Ga.App. 569, 570(2), 452 S.E.2d 118 (1994). See also Johnson v. State, 261 Ga. 678, 679(2), 409 S.E.2d 500 (1991); Brown v. State, 223 Ga. 540, 541(2), 156 S.E.2d 454 (1967).
4. Kegler having elected to represent himself, it was his responsibility, not the trial court's, to ensure the presence of his witnesses by issuance of subpoenas. OCGA §§ 24-10-20(b); 24-10-21. There is no constitutional requirement that the trial court "take over chores for a pro se defendant that would normally be attended to by trained counsel as a matter of course." McKaskle v. Wiggins, 465 U.S. 168, 184(V)(B), 104 S.Ct. 944, 954, 79 L.Ed.2d 122 (1984).
5. At the conclusion of the jury charge, the trial court specifically asked Kegler if he had any...
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