Rhodes v. State

• Decision Date: 20 September 1999
• Docket Number: No. S99A0939.,S99A0939.
• Citation: 271 Ga. 481,521 S.E.2d 579
• Parties: RHODES v. The STATE.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

521 S.E.2d 579

271 Ga. 481

RHODES v. The STATE.

No. S99A0939.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

September 20, 1999.

Stanley C. House, Augusta, for appellant.

Daniel J. Craig, District Attorney, Charles R. Sheppard, Assistant District Attorney, Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Angelica M. Woo, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.

CARLEY, Justice.

A jury found Clint Rhodes guilty of the malice murder of Melvin Quarles, and of the possession of a firearm during his commission of that crime. The trial court entered judgments of conviction on the jury's guilty verdicts, and sentenced Rhodes to life imprisonment for the murder and to a consecutive five-year term for the firearm offense. Thereafter, the trial court denied Rhodes's motion for new trial, and, pursuant to the subsequent grant of his motion for an out-of-time appeal, he brings this appeal.¹

1. Quarles suffered at least eight gunshot wounds, all of which were fired from a relatively short range. Rhodes admitted that he was in the vicinity and heard the shots, but denied that he fired the gun. However, one of Rhodes's own friends was an eyewitness to the homicide, and he identified Rhodes as the shooter. Moreover, within minutes of the shooting, at least three others rushed to the scene and heard Quarles name "Clint" as the perpetrator. The apparent motive was an earlier confrontation between Quarles and another individual who was either Rhodes's friend or his cousin. The evidence, when construed most strongly in favor of the prosecution, is sufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find proof beyond a reasonable doubt of Rhodes's guilt of malice murder and of the possession of a firearm during the commission of the crime. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).

2. Rhodes urges that the trial court erred in admitting, as a dying declaration, the testimony of three State's witnesses regarding Quarles's identification of "Clint" as his attacker. The record shows, however, that Rhodes made no objection when any of the three witnesses testified about hearing Quarles make the statement. The failure to object to the admission of evidence at trial constitutes a waiver of the right to raise the issue on appeal. Minor v. State, 264 Ga. 195, 196(1), 442 S.E.2d 754 (1994). Moreover, contrary to Rhodes's contention, the declaration was not inadmissible merely because his full name was not stated, since other evidence showed that the name "Clint" was a reference to him. Emmett v. State, 195 Ga. 517, 533(1), 25 S.E.2d 9 (1943), overruled on other grounds, Howard v. State, 237 Ga. 471, 474, 228 S.E.2d 860 (1976). The trial court correctly admitted the identification testimony as evidence of the res gestae of the homicide. Phillips v. State, 260 Ga. 742, 744(1), 399 S.E.2d 202 (1991).

3. Rhodes enumerates as error the charge on dying declarations, contending that the evidence did not authorize such an instruction. As discussed in Division 2, however, the trial court correctly admitted evidence of Quarles's statement. "Where there is any evidence, however slight, upon a particular issue, it is not error for the court to charge the law in relation to that issue. [Cits.]" Fredericks v. State, 172 Ga.App. 379, 380(2), 323...