Sims v. State

• Decision Date: 08 November 2004
• Docket Number: No. S04A1138.,S04A1138.
• Citation: 278 Ga. 587,604 S.E.2d 799
• Parties: SIMS v. The STATE.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

604 S.E.2d 799

278 Ga. 587

SIMS v. The STATE.

No. S04A1138.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

November 8, 2004.

Bruce S. Harvey, Jennifer S. Hanson, David W. Martin, Atlanta, for appellant.

Jeffrey H. Brickman, Dist. Atty., Robert M. Coker, Sheila A. Connors, Asst. Dist. Attys., Thurbert E. Baker, Atty. Gen., Julie A. Adams, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

HINES, Justice.

Renardo Antonio Sims appeals from his convictions of malice murder, aggravated assault, and concealing the death of another person, all in connection with the death of Sewrana Yosief.¹ For the reasons that follow, we affirm in part and vacate in part.

Construed to support the verdicts, the evidence showed that Yosief and Sims had an intermittent sexual relationship. Sims resided with family members in a house across the street from a house in which his friend Charles Webb resided with Gregory Hann. Late in the evening of September 13, 2000, Webb and Hann were at Sims's residence. Sims called Yosief who agreed to meet him. Sims did not have a car, and Webb drove Sims and Hann to Yosief's house. The men drove with Yosief back to Sims's home; on the way, the four of them smoked marijuana. Sims and Yosief went into Sims's home and engaged in sexual relations; Webb and Hann went to Webb's home, played cards, and drank alcohol. In the early morning hours on September 14, 2000, Sims telephoned Webb and asked him to come over. He and Hann did so, and found Yosief's dead body. Sims told them that she had become angry and he had choked her; he asked for their help in disposing of her body. While Webb got his car, Hann helped Sims place the body in a blanket, and the three drove to the vacant lot where Sims doused the body with gasoline and set it ablaze.

On September 18, 2000, Yosief's burned body was found in a vacant lot used as a dumping ground located near Sims's home. Her sister told police that Yosief left the house with Sims and the other men on September 13, 2000, which was the last time she saw her. The men were questioned by police. Initially, all three stated that they had been with the victim on the night of September 13-14, 2000, but that early the next morning, she walked away from them on foot, and they had not seen her since. After further questioning, and without an opportunity to consult with one another, Hann and Webb changed their stories and stated that: all three men picked up the victim on the night of September 13, 2000; Webb and Hann left her alone with Sims during the early morning hours; Webb received a telephone call from Sims asking him to come over to his house; Sims told them he choked Yosief to death and asked for their help in disposing of the body; the three took the body to the dumping ground and ignited it; the next day they went to Sims's house to clean the scene; there was a blood stain on the carpet and Sims cut his finger with a steak knife and poured his blood over the blood stain²; at Sims's request, the three concocted the story they originally told police. Webb and Hann each testified against Sims at his trial.

1. Sims contends that there was insufficient evidence to convict him of the charges in the indictment. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). Specifically, he asserts that the evidence against him was completely circumstantial and did not exclude every reasonable hypothesis save that of his guilt. See OCGA § 24-4-6. Sims contends that the evidence equally supported the hypothesis that Webb and Hann committed the murder. He also points to what he contends are inconsistencies in the testimony, and argues that these inconsistencies create a situation in which the hypothesis of his guilt could not, beyond a reasonable doubt, be accepted. ³

Even accepting Sims's characterization of the testimony as inconsistent, "[i]t is the jury's role to resolve conflicts in the evidence and determine the credibility of witnesses." Watkins v. State, 273 Ga. 307, 309(1), 540 S.E.2d 199 (2001). Resolution of such conflicts does not render the evidence insufficient.

[Q]uestions as to the reasonableness of hypotheses are generally to be decided by the jury which heard the evidence and where the jury is authorized to find that the evidence, though circumstantial, was sufficient to exclude every reasonable hypothesis save that of guilt, that finding will not be disturbed unless the verdict of guilty is insupportable as a matter of law. [Cit.]

Robbins v. State, 269 Ga. 500, 501(1), 499 S.E.2d 323 (1998).⁴

The evidence authorized the jury to conclude that Sims was guilty of the crimes of which he was convicted. Jackson, supra.

2. Sims was sentenced for both malice murder and aggravated assault. Although there is no merger of the two crimes as a matter of law, aggravated assault may merge into malice murder as a matter of fact. See Malcolm v. State, 263 Ga. 369, 372-374(5), 434 S.E.2d 479 (1993). Review of the record shows that the evidence used to prove that Sims committed aggravated assault is the same as that used to prove he committed malice murder. Therefore, the aggravated assault merged into the malice murder as a matter of fact, and the separate judgment of conviction and sentence for aggravated assault must be vacated. See Fitzpatrick v. State, 268 Ga. 423, 424(1), 489 S.E.2d 840 (1997).

3. Sims asserts that trial counsel was ineffective in several regards.

In order to prevail on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, a criminal defendant must show that counsel's performance was deficient and that the deficient performance so prejudiced the client that there is a reasonable likelihood that, but for counsel's errors, the outcome of the trial would have been different. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984); Smith v. Francis, 253 Ga. 782(1), 325 S.E.2d 362 (1985). The criminal defendant must overcome the strong presumption that trial counsel's conduct falls within the broad range of reasonable professional conduct. Mobley v. State, 271 Ga. 577, 523 S.E.2d 9 (1999).

Robinson v. State, 277 Ga. 75, 76, 586 S.E.2d 313 (2003).⁵ The trial court did not err in concluding that Sims failed to show ineffective assistance of counsel on any of the bases asserted.

a.) Counsel had in his possession telephone records showing the traffic of telephone calls to and from the residences of Webb and Sims before, during, and after the time the crimes were committed. Sims urges that counsel's failure to use the telephone records to impeach the testimony of Webb and Hann was ineffective.⁶

At the hearing on the motion for new trial, counsel testified that he had not used the telephone records to impeach Webb and Hann because certain of the records showed calls from Sims's residence to Webb's residence that were inconsistent with the version of events that Sims had related to counsel, and that counsel therefore did not want the records put before the jury, in case Sims decided to testify.⁷ "The reasonableness of counsel's conduct is examined from counsel's perspective at the time of trial and under the circumstances of the case." Nhek v. State, 271 Ga. 245, 247(3), 517 S.E.2d 521 (1999). "The fact that present counsel would pursue a different strategy does not render trial counsel's strategy unreasonable. [Cit.]" Id. at 248(3), 517 S.E.2d 521. The records, in fact, are consistent with the gist of the testimony of Webb and Hann, essentially creating inconsistencies only in details of time, and do not show any inconsistency not present in a comparison of the two men's testimony.

b.) Counsel did not call any witnesses in Sims's defense, and Sims contends that failing to do so was ineffective. Two of the witnesses Sims now contends should have been called were Sims's brother and sister, who were present in the house when Yosief was killed, and heard nothing. Sims urges that this testimony would shed doubt on the truth of Webb's testimony that Sims stated that Yosief had screamed before her death. Sims also contends that his sister would have testified that Sims cut his hand while attempting to repair a broken vacuum cleaner, when he was vacuuming the living room at her insistence.

Counsel testified that he did not believe these potential witnesses would help Sims's case, and that he wished to preserve the right to opening and concluding argument. Such right is valuable, and preserving it is a reasonable strategy. Dewberry v. State, 271 Ga. 624, 625(2), 523 S.E.2d 26 (1999). These witnesses were close relatives of Sims, whose testimony could be suspect, and counsel was not unreasonable in determining that whatever benefit might accrue to Sims's defense by presenting them did not outweigh the value of preserving the right to opening and...