McGarity v. State

• Decision Date: 15 March 2021
• Docket Number: S20A1528
• Citation: 311 Ga. 158,856 S.E.2d 241
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court
• Parties: MCGARITY v. The STATE.

311 Ga. 158

856 S.E.2d 241

MCGARITY

v.The STATE.

S20A1528

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Decided: March 15, 2021

William B. Mills, for appellant.

Dick Donovan, District Attorney, Ferdinand M. Viscuse, Anthony B. Williams, Assistant District Attorneys; Christopher M. Carr, Attorney General, Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Leslie A. Coots, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.

LaGrua, Justice.

Appellant Chanze Labron McGarity was convicted of malice murder and other crimes in connection with the shooting death of James Hendon.¹ On appeal, Appellant contends that the trial court erred by (1) limiting Appellant's cross-examination of certain witnesses concerning their prior convictions; (2) allowing a law enforcement officer to offer testimony regarding certain witnesses’ prior consistent statements; and (3) permitting a witness to testify after refreshing her recollection with a document that was not provided to the defense before trial. We conclude that, while the trial court improperly admitted the prior consistent statements of three witnesses, such error requires reversal of Appellant's convictions on only two counts. Accordingly, we affirm in part and reverse in part.

1. The evidence presented at trial showed the following.² On the evening of November 16, 2013, Hendon was shot and killed in the parking lot outside Mr. G's, a Paulding County convenience store. A responding officer found a single shell casing on the ground in close proximity to Hendon's body. Witnesses at the scene told an investigator that four men had fled the scene on foot. No suspects were apprehended that evening.

At trial, Jeffrey Berry, who described himself as a friend of Appellant, testified that on the evening of the shooting he was at Mr. G's when Appellant and Eddie Head, another friend, entered the store, arguing. At some point thereafter, Berry exited the store and saw Appellant, Head, and a third friend, Steve White, arguing. Berry "just kind of fell back, just waited off to the side." Appellant walked up closer to Berry, and Head and White were still standing together, "arguing a little bit." Then Hendon walked by "kind of close towards" Appellant, prompting Appellant to say, "Hey, what's wrong with you?

There's things going on here." Hendon turned around and replied, "Excuse me?" Appellant turned and slapped Hendon in the face, and Hendon "went down." Hendon appeared to be preparing to defend himself, "[a]nd then the next thing you know [Appellant] grabbed him and put him up against the wall and then pulled the pistol. And that's when he shot him." Everyone in the vicinity ran, including Berry, White, Head, and Appellant.

Berry described the gun Appellant had that night as a dark-colored gun and testified that he had known Appellant to carry a nine-millimeter gun. In addition, Berry testified that he had seen Appellant on one occasion after the shooting "at church." They exchanged greetings, and Appellant told Berry to "tell them folks that [Head] shot that guy." Appellant offered, in exchange, to help find someone to cosign on a loan with Berry.

Head testified that on the night of the shooting, he walked up the street to Mr. G's from a nearby apartment complex, Merchants Court, to purchase cigarettes. As soon as he exited the store, Appellant hit him in the face, and Head stumbled to the ground. Head testified that, when he got up to defend himself, Appellant pressed a black gun into his abdomen, and Head backed up. White, an acquaintance, walked up to help, telling Head to calm down. Head and White walked away and stood "a little ways from the building." Appellant remained near the building, "pacing ... like he wanted to fight." Hendon then appeared, and Head saw Appellant hit Hendon in the face with his gun and then shoot him. Head fled and returned to Merchants Court.

White testified that, on the night of the shooting, he was leaving his girlfriend's apartment at Merchants Court to walk to Mr. G's when he encountered Appellant. White's friend, Autumn Barner, was leaving the apartment complex at the same time and offered them a ride. When they arrived at the shopping plaza where Mr. G's was located, the men exited the car. Head was walking out of the store, and Appellant and Head started fighting. White broke up the fight, told Appellant to go into the store, and walked away with Head. As they walked, Head kept "telling [White] to turn around," but White continued walking away to avoid further conflict. White then heard a "pop" and turned to see Appellant running away with what White believed was a gun. In response to the "pop," White ran away, back to Merchants Court.³

Two additional witnesses, both cousins of Appellant, testified that they saw Appellant at Mr. G's just prior to the shooting. Both witnesses had left the store by the time of the shooting, though both were close enough to hear the gunshot.

Victoria Thompson, White's girlfriend, testified that on the night of the shooting, White returned to her apartment from the store, shaken. White told Thompson that Appellant and Head had "got into it" and that, while White was trying to break up the fight, he heard a gunshot behind him.

Ty McClarity, Thompson's roommate and Appellant's girlfriend at the time, testified that Appellant had been at her apartment in Merchants Court on the day of the shooting when she left for work. When she returned home that night, White was "pacing" in the breezeway outside her apartment, saying "I don't know why bro did that," which she interpreted to mean that "[Appellant] had did something." Appellant never returned to McClarity's apartment.

Vivian Washington, a friend of Appellant, testified that, on the day after the shooting, Appellant called to ask her to pick him up, and he stayed overnight at her apartment. The next day, Washington purchased nine-millimeter bullets for Appellant at his request. The following night, Appellant arrived at Washington's apartment unannounced and went to rest in her bedroom. Law enforcement officers arrived shortly thereafter and arrested Appellant. Washington consented to a search of her apartment, where officers found a black nine-millimeter handgun in Washington's bedroom. Washington testified that the gun was not hers and that she assumed it belonged to Appellant. Testing later confirmed that the bullet recovered from Hendon's body during his autopsy was fired from the gun recovered at Washington's apartment, and DNA obtained from the gun was matched to Appellant.

Appellant does not challenge the legal sufficiency of the evidence supporting his convictions. Nevertheless, in accordance with this Court's soon-to-end practice in murder cases, we have reviewed the record and conclude that, when viewed in the light most favorable to the verdicts, the evidence presented at trial and summarized above was sufficient to authorize a rational jury to find Appellant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes of which he was convicted.⁴ See Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). See also Davenport v. State , 309 Ga. 385, 397 (4) (b), 846 S.E.2d 83 (2020) (in assessing the sufficiency of the evidence for purposes of constitutional due process, "we consider all the evidence admitted at trial, regardless of whether the trial court erred in admitting some of that evidence" (emphasis in original)); Vega v. State , 285 Ga. 32, 33 (1), 673 S.E.2d 223 (2009) ("It was for the jury to determine the credibility of the witnesses and to resolve any conflicts or inconsistencies in the evidence." (Citation and punctuation omitted.)).

2. Appellant contends that the trial court erred by limiting Appellant's cross-examinations of White and Berry about their prior convictions, in violation of his rights under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Specifically, Appellant contends that the limitations on his cross-examination hampered his ability to explore "[t]he relationship of these witnesses, the possibility of gang affiliation, [and] the circumstances of [the witnesses’] drug convictions," which were, he claims, relevant to his defense. We discern no merit in this contention.

Prior to trial, the State filed a motion in limine requesting that the trial court limit the defense's cross-examination with respect to the details of certain witnesses’ prior convictions. The State argued that only the offenses charged and their time and place should be admissible. In response, defense counsel argued that information regarding these crimes "might be relevant to [the defense's] theory of the case" and requested that the trial court defer ruling until the issue arose at trial. The trial court noted that it generally agreed with the State but invited defense counsel to let the court know if a concern arose during trial, stating that the court "[would] be glad to take it up" at that time. Defense counsel did not offer any further indication as to what additional information the defense might seek to elicit or why it might be relevant.

At trial, White testified on direct examination that he had previously been convicted of aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, theft by receiving, and violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act. Similarly, Berry testified on direct examination as to his prior convictions for theft by receiving, violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act, escape, and financial transactions fraud. Defense counsel did not seek to elicit any additional information regarding the prior convictions while cross-examining either witness. Nor did the defense seek to revisit this issue with the trial court at any point during the trial. Defense counsel did, however, elicit that White was on probation at the time of the shooting and that Berry was in jail at the time he came forward with information about the shooting.

To obtain ordinary...