Saxton v. State

• Decision Date: 14 December 2021
• Docket Number: S22A0059
• Citation: 867 S.E.2d 130,313 Ga. 48
• Parties: SAXTON v. The STATE.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

313 Ga. 48

867 S.E.2d 130

SAXTON

v.The STATE.

S22A0059

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Decided: December 14, 2021

Anthony Leroy Johnson, Office of ALJ, PC, 18 9th Street, Suite 101, Columbus, Georgia 31901, for Appellant.

Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula Khristian Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Christopher M. Carr, Attorney General, Alex Martin Bernick, Department of Law, 40 Capitol Square, S.W., Atlanta, Georgia 30334, Mark Preston Jones, District Attorney, Frederick Lewis, A.D.A., Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office, P.O. Box 1340, 100 10th Street, Columbus, Georgia 31901, for Appellee.

Nahmias, Chief Justice.

Appellant Chandler Saxton was convicted of malice murder and a firearm offense in connection with the shooting death of John Jones. In his sole enumeration of error in this appeal, he contends that the trial court erred by allowing the State's lead investigator to testify about the direction in which one of the bullets that struck Jones traveled. Assuming without deciding that this testimony was erroneously admitted, it was harmless, so we affirm.¹

1. The evidence presented at Appellant's trial showed the following. Appellant was involved in a romantic relationship with the mother of Jones's child and was "jealous" of Jones. In April or May 2014, after Jones said during a phone call that he and the child's mother would "always have history," Appellant replied, "Well, you know I can make you disappear."

On the evening of July 31, 2014, Jones's friend Jaqwuane Crocker drove Jones to a gas station and convenience store on Illges Road in Columbus so that Jones could fill a gas can. Crocker testified as follows. Jones paid for the gas inside the convenience store and then began filling his container at one of the fuel pumps, while Crocker put gas in his car at an adjacent pump. A man, whom Crocker did not know but identified at trial as Appellant, approached Jones, and the two men talked calmly. Crocker saw Jones lean over to put the gas can down and heard one of the men say, "You a little man folk." Crocker then heard gunshots and ran away. Moments later, he ran back toward the gas station and saw that Jones had been shot and Appellant had fled. Jones then pulled out his own gun and shot randomly toward the surrounding buildings before collapsing behind Crocker's car.

Crocker called 911, took Jones's gun (which Crocker had not seen before the shooting), and hid it in some nearby bushes. When police officers arrived, Crocker admitted that he had taken Jones's gun and showed them where it was hidden.² Another eyewitness testified that a man had approached Jones and then "just pulled out a gun and started shooting." Jones, who had been shot twice, was transported to a hospital, where he died two days later.

The lead investigator obtained surveillance video recordings from the gas station and convenience store. At trial, the prosecutor played portions of the recordings, which show the following. At 7:32 p.m., the man whom Crocker identified at trial as Appellant entered the convenience store. About three minutes later, Jones and Crocker pulled into the gas station. Jones went inside the store and paid the cashier, without any apparent interaction with Appellant; Jones then exited the store and began filling his gas container at a pump. Right after Jones exited, Appellant left the store, stood outside the door for about 25 seconds, and then walked toward Jones. After the two men spoke to each other for roughly 15 seconds, Jones put down the gas container; a few seconds later, Appellant suddenly pulled out a handgun and fired at Jones, who was facing Appellant and had nothing visible in his hands. As Appellant fired three more shots, Jones turned to his right and ran, ducking behind Crocker's car, which was parked at the adjacent pump. Crocker, who was standing near the driver-side door of his car, fled. After Appellant ran down the street and out of view, Jones, who had blood on the front and back of his shirt, emerged from behind the car firing his own gun several times toward the nearby buildings. He then collapsed near the trunk of the car. Crocker ran back toward the car, apparently talking on a cell phone, took the gun from Jones's hand, and ran away.

On the day after the shooting, the police gave the news media a still photo of the shooter taken from one of the video recordings. Two days later, Appellant turned himself in at a Columbus police station. He did not testify at trial or introduce any evidence. Closing arguments were not transcribed, but based on the final charge to the jury, it appears that he asserted claims of self-defense and voluntary manslaughter.

2. In this Court, Appellant's sole contention is that the trial court erred by allowing the State's lead investigator to testify about the trajectory of one of the bullets that struck Jones. As explained below, we need not decide whether the court abused its discretion by admitting this testimony, because any such evidentiary error was harmless.

(a) Before trial, the parties stipulated to the authenticity of the report of Jones's autopsy, with the conditions that the medical examiner who performed the autopsy would not testify at trial and that the report would be introduced into evidence during the State's case-in-chief. During the trial, the prosecutor told the court outside the presence of the jury that he intended to have the lead investigator testify about the report, and Appellant's counsel agreed. The investigator's direct examination focused on the surveillance videos. Toward the end of the examination, the prosecutor informed the jury of the stipulation, and the autopsy report was admitted into evidence (and later given to the jury during its deliberations).

In pertinent part, the autopsy report said the following. Jones had been shot twice, resulting in four gunshot wounds to his body that caused his death, and the manner of death was homicide. One of the bullets, which caused two gunshot wounds, entered the left side of Jones's chest and exited his back, traveling from front to back, left to right, and downward. The other bullet also caused two gunshot wounds – one to Jones's right thigh and one to his left buttock – but the medical examiner could not determine which wound was caused by the bullet's entry and which wound was caused by its exit.

During his testimony, the investigator relayed this information from the report. The prosecutor then said:

In your investigation, knowing what you know from the autopsy report and from the video – I know the autopsy report states that it's unclear which, the thigh or buttock wound, is an entry or exit. Based on you observing the video, do you believe that you could see which is which, which is the exit, which is the entry wound?

Appellant's counsel objected, arguing that the investigator had not been qualified as an expert and that, alternatively, the jurors could determine the issue for themselves by viewing the surveillance recordings. The trial court ruled that the investigator could answer the prosecutor's question, "if he's able to make that determination." The investigator then testified, "As ... Jones turned to run and the shots continued to be fired in his direction, the most obvious would be that the bullet would have entered in through his left buttock[ ], which means the exit would have been to the right thigh."

(b) Appellant argues that the trial court improperly admitted this testimony because the investigator's opinion about the direction of the bullet that struck Jones in his thigh and buttock was based on scientific knowledge. Although Appellant does not cite any pertinent evidence law, it appears that he contends that the testimony was inadmissible under OCGA § 24-7-701 (a), which permits lay witness...