Russell v. State, s. S94A1539
| Decision Date | 17 March 1995 |
| Docket Number | Nos. S94A1539,S94A1536,s. S94A1539 |
| Citation | 455 S.E.2d 34,265 Ga. 203 |
| Parties | RUSSELL v. The STATE. JONES v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Philip B. Spivey, Milledgeville, for Jones.
Reginald L. Bellury, Milledgeville, for Russell.
Michael J. Bowers, Atty. Gen., Michael D. Groves, Asst. Atty. Gen., Susan V. Boleyn, Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen., Atlanta, Fredric Daniel Bright, Dist. Atty., Gray, for state.
A jury convicted Demetra Latrell Russell of malice murder in connection with the stabbing death of 17-year-old Nocera Tucker. The jury acquitted Melinda Diane Jones of malice murder, but convicted her of felony murder, with aggravated assault as the underlying felony. Both defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment. We affirm Russell's conviction, but reverse Jones' conviction. 1
1. The evidence presented at trial shows that Tucker got out of a moving car to accost Russell, who was 18 years old, and Jones, her 17-year-old aunt, as they were walking home in a trailer park. Eyewitnesses testified that Tucker and Russell were fussing and pushing each other when Russell pulled out a kitchen steak knife and stabbed Tucker in the chest. He returned to the car holding his chest, got a piece of weed cutting equipment from the car trunk, swung it at Russell, and knocked her down. At some point Jones stabbed Tucker in the back with a pocket knife. Tucker was swinging the weed cutter and fending off Jones and Russell when he fell. The two continued to stab him, wounding him seven times. Tucker returned to the car, but died from the chest wound in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. Police arrested Russell at the scene still holding the knife in her hand. She admitted the stabbing, but claimed it was in self-defense. Police arrested Jones later after the autopsy showed that a different knife had caused the three back wounds. After reviewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury's determination of guilt, we conclude that a rational trier of fact could have found both Russell and Jones guilty of murder. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).
2. Six months after Tucker's death and two weeks before trial, Russell threatened someone by saying she had killed one person and would not mind killing another person. The trial court did not err in allowing the state to present testimony concerning her statement as an admission that she had killed Tucker. See Ingram v. State, 253 Ga. 622, 632-33, 323 S.E.2d 801 (1984) (). In addition, the state met the requirements for introducing the evidence as an independent act under Williams v. State, 261 Ga. 640, 642, 409 S.E.2d 649 (1991). In the absence of a request, the trial court was not required to give a limiting instruction.
3. Relying on Edge v. State, 261 Ga. 865, 414 S.E.2d 463 (1992), Jones contends that the trial court erred in its jury charge on felony murder, voluntary manslaughter, and aggravated assault, the underlying felony on the felony murder count. In Edge, we disapproved of sequential charges that prevented juries from fully considering voluntary manslaughter. In footnote 3, we stated:
In addition to the statutory definitions of the crimes involved, for example, murder, felony murder, and voluntary manslaughter, the jury should be admonished that if it finds provocation and passion with respect to the act which caused the killing, it could not find felony murder, but would be authorized to find voluntary manslaughter. Such instructions are necessary only when the aggravated assault is perpetrated against the homicide victim and is an integral part of the killing and when the evidence authorizes a voluntary manslaughter charge.
Id. at 867 n. 3, 414 S.E.2d 463. (Emphasis supplied.)
In this case, the trial court followed Edge by giving instructions on count one concerning malice murder and voluntary manslaughter before charging the jury on count two concerning felony murder and by telling the jury to reach a verdict on both malice murder and voluntary...
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