King v. State
| Decision Date | 16 September 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. S02A1038.,S02A1038. |
| Citation | 569 S.E.2d 518,275 Ga. 463 |
| Parties | KING v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
John Peter Rutkowski, Alpharetta, for appellant.
Paul L. Howard, Jr., Dist. Atty., March A. Mallon, Asst. Dist. Atty., Beattieanne C. Hart, Deputy Dist. Atty., Thurbert E. Baker, Atty. Gen., Jill Maureen Zubler, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
Kelvin King was convicted of malice murder in connection with the fatal shooting of the mother of his children, Carletta Ford-Scruggs. King challenges the conviction on the bases that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the verdict of guilt and that the trial court erred in refusing to grant a mistrial when the State improperly placed King's character into evidence. Finding the challenges to be without merit, we affirm. 1
The evidence, which included eyewitness testimony, construed in favor of the verdict, shows that on March 19, 1998, Carletta Ford-Scruggs sustained a fatal gunshot wound to the head. Prior to marrying, Ford-Scruggs was involved in a long-term relationship with Kelvin King, in which the couple had three children. On the evening of March 19,1998, Ford-Scruggs and her two young daughters were visiting a friend, Knox, when King telephoned the apartment looking for Ford-Scruggs. Shortly thereafter, King arrived at the apartment. The adults sat and talked for awhile about past events and then King and Ford-Scruggs discussed the future of the children and whether Ford-Scruggs could properly care for them. King "started to get mad" and "started talking all crazy and stuff." King raised his voice, and began "cursing, talking about the `B' word, that he'll shoot [Ford-Scruggs] in the head." King and Ford-Scruggs both stood up, and King pushed Ford-Scruggs. He then pulled a pistol from the front of his pants, and held the pistol to Ford-Scruggs's head, warning her "I will kill you." Moments later he shot her.
King ran from the apartment but later turned himself in to the police, tearfully stating that he "shot his baby's mother" while they were "playing." After executing a waiver of his Miranda rights, King confirmed that he shot Ford-Scruggs, but maintained that it was inadvertent, that he and Ford-Scruggs had "always played rough." At trial, King testified that he accidentally shot Ford-Scruggs after he was "poking" the pistol "over her body."
1. The jury, in its role of resolving any conflicts in the evidence and assessing the credibility of witnesses, was authorized to believe the testimony of the eyewitnesses. DeLoach v. State, 272 Ga. 890, 891(1), 536 S.E.2d 153 (2000). And the evidence was sufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find proof beyond a reasonable doubt of King's guilt of the malice murder of Carletta Ford-Scruggs. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).
2. On direct examination, one of the State's eyewitnesses, Knox, was asked about the content of conversation leading up to the fatal shooting, and Knox responded that King "started talking about Carlett and her mama turned him in and just little simple stuff." King contends that such response, intentionally elicited by the State in violation of the trial court's ruling to prohibit evidence of King's criminal history, improperly placed his character in evidence, and accordingly, that the trial court erred in refusing to grant him a mistrial because of it. But the contention is unavailing.
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