Sawyer v. State

• Decision Date: 28 February 2020
• Docket Number: S19A1341
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court
• Parties: SAWYER v. The STATE.

308 Ga. 375

839 S.E.2d 582

SAWYER

v.The STATE.

S19A1341

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Decided: February 28, 2020

Daniel Horne Petrey DeKalb County Public Defender's Office, Decatur, 320 Church Street, Georgia 30030, for Appellant.

Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Matthew Blackwell Crowder, Assistant Attorney General, Paula Khristian Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Christopher M. Carr, Attorney General, Department of Law 40 Capitol Square, S.W. Atlanta, Georgia 30334, Emily Kathleen Richardson, Deputy Chief A.D.A., Sherry Boston, District Attorney, Destiny H. Bryant, Elizabeth Haase Brock, A.D.A., DeKalb County District Attorney's Office 556 N. McDonough Street, Suite 700, Decatur, Georgia 30030, for Appellee.

Bethel, Justice.

In July 2016, a jury found Devin Sawyer guilty of felony murder and other crimes in connection with the death of Michael Weeks, Jr.¹ Sawyer appeals, contending that his trial counsel's assistance was ineffective because counsel (1) did not object to a witness’ purported comments on Sawyer's credibility; (2) did not object to testimony that allegedly placed Sawyer's character into evidence; and (3) did not object to hearsay testimony involving statements made by Weeks’ mother. Because we determine that Sawyer's counsel did not render ineffective assistance to Sawyer, we affirm.

1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury's verdicts, the evidence presented at trial showed that the victim, Weeks, was born on May 13, 2010. Danielle Calhoun, Weeks’ mother, met Sawyer in 2011 and began a relationship with him. In 2012, Calhoun, Weeks, and Sawyer began living together.

While they were living together, Sawyer was "physical" towards Calhoun on one occasion, and Calhoun called the police regarding this incident. Calhoun's friend, Monica Fitzpatrick, encouraged Calhoun to leave Sawyer, but Calhoun said that they loved each other and continued living with him. On another occasion, Fitzpatrick noticed a scratch on Weeks’ face and asked Calhoun about it. Calhoun told Fitzpatrick that Sawyer said that Weeks, who was around two years old, had been riding on the back of a four-wheeler and had hit his face on poison ivy.

In June 2012, Calhoun told Sawyer that she wanted to end the relationship. In response, Sawyer cut Calhoun with a knife, dropped an item on her foot, and took her cell phone. With her arm bleeding, Calhoun ran outside screaming, prompting her neighbors to call 911. After this incident, Calhoun and Sawyer broke up, but reunited about a month later.

A short time later, during an argument between Calhoun and Sawyer about Sawyer's mother, Sawyer took Calhoun's cell phone and wallet, began strangling and punching her, and started to break items in their shared apartment. Sawyer also pushed Weeks and punched a hole in the wall, with his fist passing close to Calhoun's face. The dispute then moved downstairs, and Sawyer began strangling Calhoun again in front of Weeks. Calhoun began to lose consciousness and could not resist anymore, and asked Sawyer to let her go. Once Sawyer let her go, Calhoun ran to a neighbor's house and called the police.

Two of the apartment complex's maintenance workers came to Calhoun and Sawyer's apartment immediately following this incident. They observed a great deal of damage to the apartment, including damaged doors, broken glass, and holes in the wall, and that the apartment was in disarray. Sawyer was asked to leave by the employees. Sawyer and Calhoun broke up again after this incident, and Calhoun was later evicted from that apartment complex. Calhoun then moved to a different apartment, and she and Sawyer reunited again.

Around two weeks before Weeks’ death, Calhoun noticed suspicious bruises on Weeks, including a bruise on his head

. When she asked Sawyer what happened, Sawyer said that he accidentally closed a door on Weeks’ head. Fitzpatrick testified that she asked Calhoun about this mark, and Calhoun told her that Sawyer said that Weeks had walked into a door. Fitzpatrick told Calhoun that it did not look like Weeks had walked into a door. A few days later, Fitzpatrick noticed bruises on Weeks’ inner thigh and mentioned it to Calhoun. When Calhoun confronted Sawyer, Sawyer said that Weeks got bruised while he was playing with him upside down, and that he did not mean to bruise Weeks. Calhoun told Sawyer to be careful and that he was playing too roughly with Weeks.

On November 23, 2012, Calhoun and Sawyer argued about Calhoun going to Chicago so that Weeks could see his biological father, who had recently reentered Weeks’ life. Sawyer did not want Calhoun to go to Chicago, but Calhoun told Sawyer that he could not stop Weeks from seeing his father.

The next morning, Calhoun made Weeks a bowl of cereal before bringing him to the park outside of their apartment. According to Calhoun, Weeks did not appear to be sick or hurt that morning. While Calhoun and Weeks were at the park, Calhoun called Fitzpatrick and asked her to come pick Calhoun up later that afternoon. Around noon, after Calhoun and Weeks returned from the park, Calhoun took two pictures of herself with Weeks. Calhoun testified that Weeks had not injured himself at the park when they were together and had no injuries on his face. Sawyer had gone to the store, and Calhoun was waiting for Fitzpatrick to pick her up from the apartment. Between 1:20 and 1:30 p.m., Fitzpatrick and her boyfriend arrived to pick Calhoun up. As Fitzpatrick drove into the apartment complex, she saw Sawyer walking, and he raised his middle finger at her. Fitzpatrick waited in the car and did not go into the apartment. As Calhoun left, Weeks was crying, and Calhoun told him that she would be back and that she loved him. Calhoun asked Sawyer to come get Weeks so she could leave.

Fitzpatrick testified that Calhoun's demeanor was normal and that Calhoun did not seem upset after leaving Weeks with Sawyer. Calhoun and Fitzpatrick went to a restaurant, then to Calhoun's old apartment to check the mailbox, and then to Fitzpatrick's apartment. Between 3:50 and 4:00 p.m., about 30 minutes after they got to Fitzpatrick's apartment, Calhoun received a call from a hospital notifying her that Weeks was there. Fitzpatrick testified that after Calhoun answered the phone, Calhoun's face went gray and she said, "I have to get out of here." Fitzpatrick and her boyfriend drove Calhoun to the hospital.

Calhoun testified that when she arrived at the hospital, no one would tell her what was going on, and nurses took her into a small room where Sawyer was sitting. When the doctor came in and told Calhoun that Weeks had come in unresponsive, Calhoun asked the doctor what he was saying, and he told her that Weeks had died. Calhoun asked Sawyer several times what was going on, but Sawyer did not look at or say anything to her, and just kept his head down and rocked back and forth. Calhoun initially looked as though she was going to faint, but then collected herself and tried to attack Sawyer, shouting that he killed her baby. Sawyer did not respond.

A social worker at the hospital testified that, because Weeks had been brought to the hospital in cardiac arrest

and was not breathing, protocol required her to speak to the family of the patient and to try to find out as much information as possible about what happened. Sawyer had arrived at the hospital with Weeks and said that he was Weeks’ father. The social worker took Sawyer to the family room and tried to figure out what happened. Sawyer was unclear about what happened, and he said that Weeks was running around and getting on his nerves. Weeks then "just stopped and fell to the floor and went to sleep." Sawyer said that Weeks did this all the time, and that he was not very concerned about it when it happened. Sawyer was unable to identify about what time this happened. Sawyer said that after Weeks "fell out," he picked Weeks up, noticed that Weeks was breathing, and took Weeks into the bedroom, where they both lay down in the bed. Sawyer was not able to provide a time for this either. The social worker testified that she had never had a parent tell her that he or she had noticed their child breathing, and she found this comment to be awkward and unsolicited. Sawyer said that when he woke up beside Weeks in the bed, Weeks was not breathing. The social worker described Sawyer as being angry and irritated with her for asking a lot of questions, and she described Sawyer as not very forthcoming with his answers. Sawyer also refused to provide Calhoun's phone number, although the social worker eventually obtained it after contacting Sawyer's mother at his direction.

The lead detective on the case testified that he spoke with Calhoun at the hospital, and that Calhoun said that she left Weeks with Sawyer, and that when she left her apartment, Weeks was perfectly fine and had no marks or bruises. Calhoun showed the detective one of the photos that she had taken of Weeks before she left, which showed nothing unusual about Weeks’ appearance. Calhoun told the detective that she knew that Sawyer killed Weeks.

A neighbor testified that in the early afternoon on the day Weeks died, Sawyer came to her apartment crying and holding Weeks. Sawyer asked the neighbor's mother to call an ambulance, which she did. The neighbor testified that Sawyer never said that anything had happened to Weeks, that Weeks looked like an "old man" and had bags under his eyes, and that Weeks was not breathing. The neighbor's mother told Sawyer that Weeks was dead.

The paramedic that arrived on the scene observed Sawyer performing CPR on Weeks. Weeks was unresponsive and did not have a pulse. The paramedics continued CPR in the ambulance until arriving at the hospital. However, they never found a pulse, Weeks remained unresponsive in the ambulance, and Weeks’ extremities were cool to the touch. Sawyer told the paramedic that Weeks was playing like he always did and fell asleep on the floor. Sawyer then said that when he...