Taylor v. State

• Decision Date: 21 June 2021
• Docket Number: S21A0297
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court
• Parties: TAYLOR v. The STATE.

312 Ga. 1

860 S.E.2d 470

TAYLOR

v.The STATE.

S21A0297

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Decided: June 21, 2021

Jennifer Faith Arndt, Newton County Public Defender's Office, 1160 Pace Street, Covington, Georgia 30014, for Appellant.

Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula Khristian Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Christopher M. Carr, Attorney General, Alex Martin Bernick, Assistant Attorney General, Department of Law, 40 Capitol Square, S.W., Atlanta, Georgia 30334, Randal Matthew McGinley, A.D.A., Alcovy Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office, 1132 Usher Street, Room 313, Covington, Georgia 30014, Walter Cliff Howard, Deputy Chief A.D.A., Alcovy Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office, 303 S. Hammond Drive, Suite 334, Monroe, Georgia 30655, for Appellee.

LaGrua, Justice.

Appellant Micayla Christina Taylor, also known as "Cay Cay," was convicted of felony murder and other crimes in connection with the shooting death of Divante Rodriekus Simmons and the aggravated assault of William Lawton. On appeal, Appellant raises seven enumerations of error: (1) the evidence was legally insufficient to support her conviction; (2) the trial court erred in denying her motion to suppress; (3) the trial court erred in denying her plea in bar; (4) the trial court erred in giving the State's requested charge on conspiracy over Appellant's objection; (5) trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to object to prospective Juror No. 44 being struck from the jury panel; (6) trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to object to alleged hearsay statements given by Jeston Yates; and (7) trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by allowing admission of testimony regarding Appellant's request to take a polygraph test.¹ For the reasons that follow, we affirm Appellant's convictions.

1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdicts, the evidence presented at trial showed the following. Appellant was arrested on February 5, 2016, after being implicated in the February 1, 2016 shootings of Lawton and Simmons. The shootings occurred in Newton County in an area known as "Gum Tree." According to Jeston Yates, who lived in the Gum Tree area at the Salem Terrace Apartments, he encountered Appellant at the apartment complex around 10:15 a.m. on the morning of February 1. Appellant asked Yates where she could sell some marijuana, and he noticed Appellant had "about five blunts with her," as well as "a 9" handgun. After smoking marijuana with Appellant, Yates told Appellant to go down to Gum Tree Court or Plum Orchard Road, two nearby streets, to sell the marijuana. Yates testified that around 11:00 a.m., Appellant left the apartment complex driving a silver Malibu or Impala. About five to ten minutes later, Appellant returned, telling Yates that she went to Gum Tree Court to make a sale but two men ran off with the marijuana after asking if they could smell it. Yates testified that he left the apartment complex after this conversation because he did not want to get involved.

Reginald West and his son, Demarkcus Jones, who was also known as "Head Head," testified that the same morning, between 10:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m., they were walking to West's duplex in the Gum Tree area from another part of the neighborhood. As West and Jones approached West's duplex, West noticed a silver Impala parked in front of the neighbor's unit. When the two men neared the driveway, the Impala started to leave but stopped beside West. A man in the driver's seat said to West, "[S]omebody going to pay." West observed that a woman was seated in the front passenger seat of the vehicle.

Yates testified that about an hour or so later, he was walking through the Gum Tree area when Appellant's silver car pulled up next to him. A man was driving the car, and Appellant was seated in the passenger seat. They told Yates to get in the car, and when Yates hesitated, the man drew a gun – the same gun Yates saw Appellant with earlier that morning. Appellant started giving Yates a description of the man who stole her marijuana, saying he was "cross-eyed." Yates testified that he immediately knew Appellant was describing Jones because Jones has a damaged eye and is the only person in the area with an eye like that.² Appellant then asked Yates where "Head Head" lived, and Yates said he did not know. According to Yates, the three started driving around the Gum Tree area near West's duplex. Yates heard Appellant call the driver "Plug," which Yates knew to mean her drug dealer or supplier. The man driving the car told Yates that he and Appellant were "going to handle some business" and "make an example out of them boys down there that night," and "they were going to go riding tonight until they find who did it." At around 1:00 p.m., they dropped off Yates on Plum Orchard Road.

According to West, later that afternoon between 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., he was standing outside his duplex with his other son, Reggie, and he saw a silver Impala driving up and down the street multiple times. At some point during this timeframe, the car pulled into West's driveway. The same man and woman from the earlier encounter were inside the vehicle, and the man said to West and Reggie, "I know y'all ain't got nothing to do with this, but when I come back, they going to have to pay, give me my money."

Tobias Dickerson, a resident of the Salem Terrace Apartments, also testified at trial. According to Dickerson, at approximately 5:30 p.m. on the same day, he was walking up a path from Plum Orchard Road to the Salem Terrace Apartments with his young daughter. As they entered the apartment complex parking lot, Dickerson saw a gray or silver Impala parked nearby – a car he had seen at the complex most of the day. A man was standing outside the driver's side of the car, and a woman was standing on the passenger side. As Dickerson and his daughter approached, the woman pointed a handgun – a ".40-caliber" or a "baby 9" – at them, asking "[W]here he go, where he go?" Dickerson responded that he did not know what she was talking about, and the woman ran to the other side of the apartment complex. Dickerson rushed his daughter into his apartment and came back outside to confront the woman "because she drawed down on [him] and [his] daughter." When he came back outside, the car sped out of the complex. Dickerson then walked to his mother's house on Plum Orchard Road, and while he was standing in the yard, he saw the silver Impala driving up and down the street eight or nine times.

Yates testified that about two hours later, between 7:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., he was outside a house on Plum Orchard Road and saw a silver car driving slowly up and down the road. Yates noticed that the car looked like the one he had ridden in earlier in the day with Appellant, and he observed that the same man was driving the car, holding a gun.

West and Jones testified that about 8:30 that evening, they were with their friends Lawton and Simmons at Lawton's home on Gum Tree Court. According to West and Lawton, at around 10:00 p.m., a silver or gray Impala turned down Gum Tree Court, drove past Lawton's house, turned around in the cul-de-sac at the end of the street, and drove back up the street. The men testified that as the Impala neared Lawton's house again, multiple gunshots were fired from the vehicle. Lawton said that Simmons pulled him to the ground behind a car parked in front of the house. West stated he also got down and slammed Jones to the ground. Jones testified that he could see "fire" coming up off the ground where the bullets were hitting the parking area. One of the bullets struck Lawton in his left bicep. Lawton testified that after the shooting stopped, he got up to go inside his house but noticed that Simmons was still on the ground. The men then realized Simmons had been shot.

Officers responded to the shootings at approximately 10:30 p.m. They observed Simmons lying on the ground, apparently deceased. They spoke briefly with Lawton and assisted in applying a tourniquet

to his arm. The officers recovered multiple shell casings from a .40-caliber weapon located in the immediate vicinity and along the road.³ When the ambulance arrived, emergency personnel confirmed Simmons was deceased. The ambulance transported Lawton to the hospital where he was treated and released.

A few days after the shootings, Dickerson, West, and Yates were interviewed by officers. During these interviews, officers presented the men with photographic lineups and asked if they recognized anyone matching the appearance of the woman they encountered on February 1. Dickerson selected a photograph of Appellant and also identified her at trial. West circled a photograph of Appellant, but indicated that he was not sure she was the woman he encountered on February 1. However, West positively identified Appellant at trial. Yates could not identify anyone in the photographs presented to him, but at trial, he identified Appellant as the woman who asked him where she could sell marijuana, had a gun in her possession, and was riding in the silver car.

Appellant was arrested on February 5 and interviewed by Investigator Jocelyn Detweiler and Corporal Charles Cook. The interview lasted approximately four hours. At the beginning of the interview, Appellant agreed to waive her Miranda⁴ rights and give a statement to the officers.

During the first few minutes of the interview, Appellant told the officers that on the day of the shootings, she "did try to go purchase some weed" in the Gum Tree neighborhood and "somebody did steal from" her. She also told the officers that she was "driving around the neighborhood in the day time" in a silver Impala looking for "Head Head." The officers then asked her to describe Head Head, and Appellant responded, "He got messed up eyes." When the officers asked for more details about the events surrounding the robbery, Appellant stated:

I went to go purchase some weed, I'm gonna be

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