Sixayaketh v. State

• Decision Date: 15 November 1991
• Docket Number: No. S91A1529,S91A1529
• Citation: 410 S.E.2d 112,261 Ga. 690
• Parties: SIXAYAKETH v. The STATE.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

Page 112

410 S.E.2d 112

261 Ga. 690

SIXAYAKETH v. The STATE.

No. S91A1529.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Nov. 15, 1991.

Sengratsamy Sixayaketh, pro se.

Tommy K. Floyd, Dist. Atty., McDonough, Michael J. Bowers, Atty. Gen., and Peggy R. Katz, Staff Atty., Atlanta, for the State.

HUNT, Justice.

Sengratsamy Sixayaketh was convicted of felony murder, armed robbery, and burglary and was sentenced to two life sentences and a term of years. ¹ He raises several enumerations of error in his pro se appeal.

When Bill Fortner and fifteen-year-old Steven Rogers stopped by Obie and Gladys Wilder's farm in Henry County, they interrupted a burglary. The defendant confronted Fortner and Rogers with a pistol and forced them to sit in a small room with ninety-five-year old Alma Shelton, who lived with the Wilders, while the defendant, who wore a red bandanna over his face, ransacked the house. As the Wilders arrived several minutes later, the defendant made Fortner walk outside while the defendant held his gun to Fortner's back. When Obie Wilder refused to turn over his wallet, the defendant shot him in the ankle. Fortner used the diversion to grab the defendant from behind. The defendant broke loose and, as Fortner attempted to run away, shot Fortner in the back. The defendant then shot Wilder, who was trying to get his rifle out of his truck, in the hip and fled. He was arrested several hours later when a store clerk, who listened to the police radio, observed him using a pay telephone outside the store, and notified the authorities. In a statement he himself wrote in English, the defendant claimed he shot Fortner in self-defense. The defendant did not testify at the trial.

At trial, the court-appointed interpreter was unavailable. The defendant, a native of Laos, who has lived in this country about ten years and speaks some English, nevertheless consented to proceed with the trial with the help of his sixteen-year-old sister, who is fluent in English. The defendant was instructed to tell his attorney if he did not understand the proceedings.

1. Having reviewed the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury's determination, we conclude that a rational trier of fact could have found the defendant guilty of felony murder, armed robbery, and burglary beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); Crawford v. State, 245 Ga. 89, 90, 263 S.E.2d 131 (1980).

2. We have reviewed the remaining enumerations of...