Redding v. State
Decision Date | 16 June 2020 |
Docket Number | S20A0177 |
Citation | 309 Ga. 124,844 S.E.2d 725 |
Parties | REDDING v. The STATE. |
Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Kennon Peebles, Jr., 3296 Summit Ridge Parkway, Duluth, Georgia 30096, Attorneys for the Appellant.
Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Christopher M. Carr, Attorney General, Michael Alexander Oldham, Assistant Attorney General, Department of Law, 40 Capitol Square, S.W., Atlanta, Georgia 30334, Julia Anne Fessenden Slater, District Attorney, Ray Winston Daniel, A.D.A., Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office, 100 Tenth Street, Columbus, Georgia 31902-1340, Attorneys for the Appellee.
Merrick Redding was tried by a Muscogee County jury and convicted of murder and aggravated assault in connection with the death of Joseph Davis.1 Redding appeals, asserting that the evidence is legally insufficient to sustain his convictions, that he was denied his constitutional right to a speedy trial, and that certain evidence was admitted erroneously at trial. Although the evidence is sufficient to sustain the convictions, we conclude that the trial court failed to apply the proper standard to the claim that Redding was denied his right to a speedy trial. For that reason, we vacate the judgment below and remand for the trial court to resolve that claim under the proper standard. We decline at this point to address the remaining claims of error.2
1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence presented at trial shows the following. On September 5, 2016, Jason Bellamy hosted a barbeque at his house for his family. During the barbeque, Davis came over to visit. Redding also came to the house with his young grandchildren, though Redding had not been invited. Around the time of the incident, Bellamy was preparing to grill meat in an area adjacent to the house that witnesses characterized as an outdoor patio or carport. Davis was leaning against a truck in the driveway, "talking to friends" and "taking it easy." Another resident of the house, Debbie Render, also was sitting outside. Bellamy's step-father, Jerry Ferrell, was in the washroom vacuuming up water, but he came out to the patio periodically.
While standing at the grill, Bellamy saw Redding approach Davis and start talking to him. Bellamy could not hear what Redding was saying, but he heard Davis repeatedly tell Redding, "Leave me alone." Both Bellamy and Render testified that they heard Davis ask something like, "Why do you think I'm a p***y motherf****r?" They also heard Redding call to Ferrell to "come get" Davis. Bellamy further testified that Davis said to Redding, "Go get a job ... I work hard for my money, why won't you get a job," and turning to Bellamy, Davis said, "What's wrong with him, Jason?" Bellamy did not think much of this confrontation and went inside the house laughing, but he kept looking through the screen door to see "what's going on," and he saw Redding move closer to Davis.
Demonstrating the hit in front of the jury, Bellamy described it as a "swing" with his right hand (rather than a "forward punch"), and he testified that Redding hit Davis with a "closed" fist. Render, who also observed the incident, similarly testified that Redding Both Bellamy and Render testified that Redding hit Davis with his right hand and that the blow landed somewhere on the left side of Davis's head. Both also testified that Davis did not provoke Redding before being hit.
As soon as Davis was hit, Bellamy testified, Bellamy explained that Davis did not fall over and hit his head on something, but rather Render also testified that Davis did not hit his head while falling: "He just went around like that and he just like slid down beside the truck."
Davis was taken to the hospital, but he never regained consciousness and was taken off life support the next day. The medical examiner who conducted an autopsy on Davis, Dr. Steven Atkinson, testified that there was a "large abrasion in the back
of the head on the left side," as well as a fracture on the back right side of the skull. Dr. Atkinson explained that the fracture "was more centered on the back right, but ... it crossed the midline and went into the back left, but it also wrapped around and went into the base of the skull." Dr. Atkinson concluded that the cause of death was blunt force head trauma, and that the head injury could have resulted from any blunt object, including a fist strike to the head or the head hitting the ground.
Redding testified in his own defense. He said that he came to Bellamy's house at the request of Ferrell, who had asked him to help with a washing machine. After doing some work inside the washroom, Redding sat on the patio and had a beer. Sometime later, Redding testified, Davis came to the carport area from a shed nearby where people were known to take drugs. According to Redding, Davis then purchased some crack cocaine from Bellamy, and this transaction occurred near the truck. Redding testified that he then came up to Davis to trade beers, but after a verbal exchange, Davis pushed him twice and "poked" him. This prompted Redding to hit Davis with an "open hand slap." Redding testified that Davis stumbled back a little, slid down the side of the truck, and fell to the ground, hitting his head on the concrete "lip."3
1. Redding contends that the evidence is insufficient to sustain his convictions. He argues that the evidence shows that he hit Davis only once and that the hit was not particularly forceful.4 Redding also suggests that his punch did not necessarily cause Davis's death because he punched Davis on the left side of the face, but the injury was on the right side of his head. We disagree.
Redding was convicted of felony murder in the commission of an aggravated assault. A person commits aggravated assault when, among other things, he assaults another "[w]ith a deadly weapon or with any object, device, or instrument which, when used offensively against a person, is likely to or actually does result in serious bodily injury." OCGA § 16-5-21 (a) (2). We have stated that "fists and feet are not deadly weapons per se," but "they can become such instruments when used to strike another." Skaggs v. State, 278 Ga. 19, 20 (1), 596 S.E.2d 159 (2004). Whether a fist was used as a deadly weapon in a particular case is for the jury to decide. See Dasher v. State, 285 Ga. 308, 311 (3), 676 S.E.2d 181 (2009). See also Harwell v. State, 270 Ga. 765, 767 (1), 512 S.E.2d 892 (1999) ().
Here, the testimony of two witnesses shows that Redding, without provocation, swung his hand and hit Davis on the side of his head with a closed fist. Those witnesses also testified that Davis did not fall and hit his head after he was struck, which indicates that the blow was hard enough to fracture Davis's skull, as revealed by the autopsy.5 And the medical examiner testified that Davis's cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head
. We conclude that the evidence was sufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Redding committed aggravated assault upon Davis and that this felony proximately caused Davis's death. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319 (III) (B), 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979) ; Miller v. State, 275 Ga. 730, 731 (1), 571 S.E.2d 788 (2002) ( ). See also Graham v. State, 301 Ga. 675, 677 (1), 804 S.E.2d 113 (2017) .
2. Redding contends that the trial court erred when it failed to dismiss the indictment on the ground that his constitutional right to a speedy trial was violated. The record shows that Redding was arrested on September 12, 2016, one week after the incident. Redding was granted a bond on March 2, 2017, but he apparently was unable to post the bond amount and so remained in jail. On September 28, 2017, Redding filed a "Motion to Dismiss Charge Based on Violation of Constitutional Right to Speedy Trial." At that point, Redding had not yet been indicted, and he noted in his motion that he had repeatedly asked for his case to be presented to a grand jury and that one of the few witnesses to the incident had died.6 The trial court scheduled a hearing on the motion for November 30, 2017, but, as the State concedes, there is no record that a hearing was held that day. On April 17, 2018, Redding filed a request for a hearing on his speedy trial motion. The trial court held a hearing—apparently on May 9, 2018—but did not make any ruling at the time of the hearing.7 Redding was indicted on ...
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