Lynn v. State

• Decision Date: 21 December 2020
• Docket Number: S20A1533
• Citation: 852 S.E.2d 843,310 Ga. 608
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court
• Parties: LYNN v. The STATE.

310 Ga. 608

852 S.E.2d 843

LYNN

v.The STATE.

S20A1533

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Decided: December 21, 2020

Jacob D. Rhein, for appellant.

James B. Smith, District Attorney, Patricia J. Brooks, Assistant District Attorney; Christopher M. Carr, Attorney General, Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Mark S. Lindemann, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.

Peterson, Justice.

James Morris Lynn, Jr., appeals his conviction for malice murder and aggravated assault in connection with the beating death of his wife, Tonya Lynn.¹ Lynn argues that we should vacate the trial court's order denying his motion for new trial for lack of adequate findings and remand for more detailed findings. He also argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a mistrial, he received ineffective assistance of trial counsel, and the combined errors cumulatively prejudiced him. But the trial court was not required to make detailed findings in denying Lynn's motion for new trial. The trial court did not err in denying Lynn's motion for a mistrial because the alleged basis for a mistrial posed little prejudice to Lynn and the court gave a sufficient curative instruction. Lynn's ineffective assistance claims fail because he has not established that trial counsel performed deficiently in any respect. And his cumulative error argument fails because there are no errors to cumulate. We vacate Lynn's sentence for aggravated assault because this count should have merged with the malice murder conviction, but we affirm the murder conviction.

The evidence at trial showed the following.² After Tonya went missing, police interviewed Lynn multiple times, and he eventually admitted killing Tonya by hitting her in the head with a baseball bat. He led police to a well where he had dumped her body. An autopsy showed that Tonya died from blunt force trauma to the head

.

The State presented evidence showing that the couple had a rocky relationship. Lynn and Tonya, who had four children together, separated and both filed for a divorce in early 2011. During their separation, Lynn and Tonya each started dating other people. Tonya began a relationship with David Bulloch, while Lynn began a relationship with Jennifer Butler. Lynn told Tonya's aunt that he was not going to share custody of his children with anyone.

The couple moved back in together in May 2011, but their troubles continued. On May 13, 2011, Tonya was in her bedroom watching a movie with one of her daughters and her niece. Tonya's niece testified that when Lynn arrived home from work, he began an argument with Tonya about whether she was texting someone. Lynn yelled at Tonya and flipped over the mattress Tonya was sitting on, causing her to fall to the floor and injure her knee.

Tonya became increasingly scared of Lynn, telling people he had said he would kill her before he let her go. One of Tonya's cousins explained that Tonya did not immediately leave Lynn because Tonya was concerned about supporting herself and her children on her salary, and Lynn controlled access to their bank accounts. Tonya began taking steps to save money in order to leave Lynn permanently.

Meanwhile, Lynn continued to communicate with Butler, stating that he did not want to be a part-time dad and frequently expressing his frustration with the pending divorce and fear that Tonya would leave with their children. On June 30, Lynn wrote an e-mail to Butler, saying, "I have high hopes my problem will soon be gone for good. I have to be patient and bide my time wisely and always have a good alibi[.]" In subsequent e-mails, Lynn expressed his anger about the possibility of Tonya leaving with the children and said that she "doesn't deserve to even be living" and that he thought he would be happy if she were "gone for good."

On July 24, Tonya talked to Bulloch and told him that Lynn threw her into a doorframe and that, as a result, she planned to leave Lynn and take the children with her. The next day, Lynn called Tonya's cousin, Julie Royster Hollifield, saying that Tonya wanted to leave him and asking Hollifield to convince Tonya to stay with him. Hollifield and Tonya talked on July 26, and Tonya said she had "decided for sure she was leaving" and had packed her belongings.

The following day, July 27 Tonya failed to show up to work at 6:30 a.m. as scheduled. When Tonya was still absent at 7:30 a.m., her supervisor, Stacey Morris, began making phone calls in an attempt to locate Tonya. Tonya's co-workers called law enforcement, and officers began searching for her. Tonya's family members told officers that Lynn claimed both that Tonya probably died due to a heart condition and that one of Tonya's cousins probably killed her. Officers asked to interview Lynn and requested that he bring in his cell phone because it might contain data that could help them in their investigation. Lynn brought his cell phone, but it had been "completely wiped" of all data.

Tonya's SUV was found in a library parking lot on July 27, but there were no signs of Tonya. Surveillance video from the library showed that the vehicle was left there around 1:38 a.m. on July 27, and that the male subject driving the SUV got into a truck that was later determined to be owned by Butler. Police interviewed Butler, who testified at trial that she went to the library to pick up Lynn after he called her. After Butler's interview, the police arrested Lynn on obstruction charges because he had lied about not knowing how Tonya's vehicle came to be left at the library. During an interview conducted after his arrest, Lynn admitted killing Tonya with a baseball bat and told police where they could find her body.

Lynn testified in his defense at trial, claiming that he killed Tonya in the heat of passion and in self-defense. His story was as follows. Lynn and Tonya separated in early 2011 because she was having an affair with Bulloch, he believed she continued the affair after he and Tonya reconciled, and he and Tonya argued repeatedly about his suspicions. On July 26, 2011, he confronted Tonya with information that confirmed his suspicions about her continuing an affair and told her that he was going to contact his divorce attorney. Tonya became extremely upset and taunted Lynn, saying that, because he could not satisfy her sexually, she was having sex with multiple men. Tonya retrieved a baseball bat and took a swing at him while he was in the bathroom. Lynn caught the bat with his hands, snatched it away, and immediately swung back at her, hitting her twice. Lynn left the room, returned after a few minutes, and noticed that Tonya was not breathing and did not have a pulse. Lynn then wiped up the blood on the floor, rolled Tonya up in a blanket, slid her down the stairs, put her in the back of his vehicle, and drove around town for a while before returning home to clean the house and the bathroom. Several hours later, Lynn got ready for work and, on his way there, he decided to dump Tonya's body.

1. Lynn does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support his convictions, but we have independently reviewed the evidence presented at trial and conclude that the evidence was legally sufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find beyond a reasonable doubt that he was guilty of the crimes of which he was convicted. See Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979) ; see also Shaw v. State , 292 Ga. 871, 872 (1), 742 S.E.2d 707 (2013) ("[I]ssues of witness credibility and justification are for the jury to decide, and the jury is free to reject a defendant's claim that he acted in self-defense." (citation and punctuation omitted)).³

Lynn also does not challenge his sentence on appeal, but we do recognize a merger error in his sentence. See Dixon v. State , 302 Ga. 691, 696-697 (4), 808 S.E.2d 696 (2017) ("We have the discretion to correct merger errors sua sponte ... because a merger error results in an illegal and void judgment of conviction and sentence." (citation omitted)). As set out in footnote 1 above, Lynn was sentenced on the aggravated assault count that was based on hitting Tonya in the head with a baseball bat. This is the very act that caused her death, so the aggravated assault count should have merged with the malice murder conviction. See Culpepper v. State , 289 Ga. 736, 739 (2) (a), 715 S.E.2d 155 (2011) (unless there is a "deliberate interval" between infliction of a non-fatal injury and a fatal one, the aggravated assault count merges with malice murder). We therefore vacate Lynn's sentence for aggravated assault.

2. Lynn argues that we should vacate the trial court's order denying his motion for new trial for lack of adequate findings and remand for more detailed findings. We disagree.

Lynn argues that, in the absence of detailed findings, we cannot conduct a meaningful review of the claims raised in his motion, especially his claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. Lynn cites cases in which we have remanded for further findings, but none of those cases involve motions for new trial. It is well settled that a trial court is not required to issue written findings of fact and conclusions of law when deciding a motion for new trial. See Treadaway v. State , 308 Ga. 882, 886 (2), 843 S.E.2d 784 (2020). And this principle applies no differently when a motion raises claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. See id. We decline to vacate and remand for a more detailed order.

3. Lynn argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a mistrial when the State elicited testimony referencing a polygraph test in violation of a pretrial agreement between the parties. We disagree.

At trial, the prosecutor asked Detective Rachel Love about Lynn's interview in 2011 after he was arrested. In response to a question about who initiated the interview, Detective Love replied, "I started it because he had asked to speak with me by myself. H...