Mason v. State

• Decision Date: 08 September 2014
• Docket Number: No. A13A2296.,A13A2296.
• Citation: 754 S.E.2d 397,325 Ga.App. 609
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals
• Parties: MASON v. The STATE.

325 Ga.App. 609

754 S.E.2d 397

MASON

v.The STATE.

No. A13A2296.

Court of Appeals of Georgia.

Jan. 24, 2014.

Certiorari Denied Sept. 8, 2014.

Benjamin David Goldberg, for Appellant.

Amelia Greeson Pray, Asst. Dist. Atty., D. Victor Reynolds, Dist. Atty., Marietta, for Appellee.

BARNES, Presiding Judge.

A jury convicted Charles Edwin Mason of one count of burglary, one count of criminal trespass, two counts of possession of tools for the commission of a crime, one count of felony theft by taking, and two counts of forgery in the second degree. The trial court denied his motion for new trial, resulting in the present appeal in which Mason argues that the trial court erroneously denied his right to self-representation and failed to discharge his trial counsel; that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance; and that his prior convictions were improperlyadmitted for the purpose of impeachment. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

“Following a criminal conviction, the defendant is no longer presumed innocent, and we view the evidence in the light most favorable to sustain the verdict.” Anthony v. State, 317 Ga.App. 807, 732 S.E.2d 845 (2012). Guided by this standard, we turn to the evidence presented in this case.

The Furnished Townhouse Break–In. In the early morning hours of June 21, 2011, police officers were dispatched to a residential address in Cobb County in response to a security alarm that had been triggered. The address was for a furnished model townhouse in a newly built subdivision. The responding officers discovered that a side window to the townhouse had been pushed open and had glove prints on it. Upon entering the townhouse, the officers noticed that a television had been removed from a bracket on the living room wall and had been taken from the home. In an upstairs bedroom, the officers noticed that another television had been moved, as if someone had attempted to remove it from the wall bracket. Some of the bedding from the master bedroom also had been taken.

When the officers continued their search outside the townhouse, they discovered a flat screen television together with a pillow and comforter in the bushes. The pillow and comforter matched the bedding that had been taken from the master bedroom, and a salesperson employed by the subdivision developer who had an office in the furnished townhouse identified the television as the one that had been mounted on the living room wall. Believing that the perpetrator might still be in the area, more officers and the tactical SWAT unit arrived to establish a perimeter around the subdivision and to check neighboring townhouses. A K9 unit also arrived at the scene but was unable to track a scent.

The Vacant Townhouse Break–In. As the tactical SWAT team searched a vacant townhouse located a few doors down on the same road in the subdivision, they noticed that a string to the attic door was swaying and that there was some insulation on the carpet floor below the door. When one of the officers looked around the attic, he noticed something red protruding from the white insulation. Believing that someone was hiding underneath the insulation, the officer ordered the person to show his hands. The person hiding in the insulation was Defendant Mason, who complied with the officer's directive and started to move toward him. As Mason approached the officer, he stepped on the drywall between the wooden trusses and fell through the ceiling into a bathtub right below the attic. Another officer immediately apprehended Mason.

In the attic near where Mason had been hiding, officers found a ball cap, a pair of work gloves, and a backpack. Inside the backpack were several items, including a television power cord that fit the television found in the bushes and a pair of needle-nose pliers. The weave and texture on the palms of the work gloves appeared consistent with the prints found on the side window of the furnished townhouse that had been burglarized.

Later that morning, the police were called back to the vacant townhouse to retrieve additional items that had been discovered there. A project manager for the subdivision had been repairing the bathroom in the townhouse and had discovered a wallet, a personal check, and a set of keys underneath the insulation that had fallen into the bathtub where Mason crashed through the ceiling. A second personal check subsequently was found underneath the insulation by a worker repairing the drywall.

The wallet found in the bathtub contained the driver's license of an individual named Reginald Degraffenreaidt and a Strayer University identification card that had his name but Mason's photo on it. Further investigation revealed that Degraffenreaidt did not know Mason, and that his wallet recently had been stolen from the armrest of his vehicle.

The First Forged Check. The first check found in the bathtub belonged to an individual named Brett Barksdale, who did not realize that his check was missing until he was contacted by the police. Barksdale kept his checkbook in the glove compartment of his car, and the missing check had been removed from the middle of his checkbook. The check was made payable to Reginald Degraffenreaidt and was signed, but Barksdale did not know Degraffenreaidt and the signature on the check was not his. According to Barksdale, the check had been blank the last time it was in his possession.

The Second Forged Check. The second check belonged to an individual named Remy Bulbekian, who also did not realize that he was missing the check until contacted by the police. The check had been removed from the middle of his checkbook in his car. Like the first check, the second check was made payable to Reginald Degraffenreaidt and was signed. Bulbekian testified that he did not know Degraffenreaidt, the signature on the check was not his, and the check had been blank the last time it was in his possession.

The Car, Tools, and Stolen Laptop Computer. After he was arrested and informed of his rights, Mason told the police that his girlfriend had dropped him off in the subdivision after they had fought. However, the detective assigned to the case believed that the set of keys found underneath the insulation in the bathtub might belong to a getaway car parked near the subdivision, which was gated and could not be driven into at night. The detective took the keys with him to an apartment complex located next to the subdivision and pressed the alarm activator on the key chain to see if it matched any cars. The keys activated the alarm on a Nissan Sentra parked in the complex approximately 200 to 300 feet from the furnished townhouse. The car was registered to Mason's girlfriend, and Mason later admitted that he had borrowed the car from her on the night of the break-ins.

The detective had the car impounded and obtained a search warrant. While executing the warrant, the police found a wallet in the driver's side door containing a driver's license, Social Security card, and credit cards belonging to Mason. In the trunk, the police found a crowbar, a pry bar, bolt cutters, a screwdriver, a set of hand trucks, a laptop computer inside a bag, and a flat screen television wrapped in a blanket. Based on his experience and expertise, the detective opined that tools such as a crow bar, a pry bar, and bolt cutters are often used in burglaries to break locks and force open doors.

While the detective was unable to determine the owner of the television found in the car trunk, he determined that the laptop computer belonged to an individual named Paul Allen. Allen had been friends with Mason when they were teenagers, and Mason had lived in Allen's home at one point. Allen's home in DeKalb County had been burglarized in 2010 and several items had been stolen, including the computer.

The detective also discovered a thumb drive inside the laptop computer bag. The thumb drive contained several images, including an image of a Strayer University identification card under the name of Reginald Degraffenreaidt with Mason's photo on it, an image of a photo of Mason, and an image of a fake signature for Degraffenreaidt. The images of the Strayer University identification card and of the photo of Mason on the thumb drive matched the fake identification card discovered in the wallet in the bathtub of the vacant townhouse.

The Criminal Trial. Following the police investigation, Mason was indicted and tried before a jury on two counts of burglary (one count for the break-in of the furnished townhouse and another count for the break-in of the vacant townhouse); two counts of possession of tools for the commission of a crime (one count for the work gloves found in the attic and another count for the crowbar, pry bar, and bolt cutters found in the car trunk); one count of theft by taking (for the laptop computer belonging to Allen); and two counts of forgery in the second degree (one count for the check belonging to Barksdale and another count for the check belonging to Bulbekian). At trial, the State called multiple witnesses who testified to the events as previously discussed, including witnesses pertaining to the two forged checks (Degraffenreaidt, Barksdale, and Bulbekian) and the stolen laptop computer (Allen), a representative of the developer of the townhouses, the project manager who discovered items in the bathtub, the responding police officers, and the lead detective.

The State also introduced evidence of a similar transaction. In the early morning hours of July 25, 2007, an officer on patrol observed Mason running across the road and between a set of houses in a Cobb County subdivision located approximately five miles from the subdivision in the present case. When Mason saw the officer, he attempted to hide in the woods but was quickly apprehended. At the time of his arrest, Mason was wearing a backpack that contained several items, including gloves, needle-nose pliers, screwdrivers, and a rachet set. Mason also...