Traylor v. State

• Decision Date: 13 March 2006
• Docket Number: No. S05A2101.,S05A2101.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court
• Parties: TRAYLOR v. The STATE.

627 S.E.2d 594

TRAYLOR v. The STATE.

No. S05A2101.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

March 13, 2006.

Reconsideration Denied April 13, 2006.

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Gerard Bradley Kleinrock, Decatur, for appellant.

Gwendolyn Keyes Fleming, Dist. Atty., Barbara Blaine Conroy, Asst. Dist. Atty., Thurbert E. Baker, Atty. Gen., Vonnetta Leatrice Benjamin, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

HINES, Justice.

Jarrett Traylor appeals his conviction for felony murder while in the commission of aggravated assault in connection with the fatal shooting of Matthew Antonio Stark and the denial of his motion for new trial in which he challenged his competency to stand trial. For the reasons which follow, we affirm in part and reverse in part and remand the case to the trial court.¹

The evidence construed in favor of the verdicts showed that on September 12, 2002, Kenneth Robinson met Bryan Schiele and Matthew Antonio Stark near their neighborhood basketball courts. Robinson and Stark discussed rumors that "Dread," as they called Jarrett Traylor, planned to "kick [their] butt[s]." Robinson suggested to Stark that they talk with Traylor. Robinson, Stark, and Schiele went to see Traylor at the home of Donald McFarland; Robinson drove his car with Stark in a passenger seat. Schiele rode his bicycle. They were planning to talk, not fight, and were not carrying any weapons. When the trio arrived, Traylor was standing in McFarland's front yard talking with McFarland and Jameel Rasheed. Robinson got out of his car and walked slowly toward Traylor, asking him "what the f____ is going on." Robinson stayed a short distance from Traylor and did not attempt to touch him. Traylor had his hands behind his back, was looking at Robinson, and took a couple of steps back. Traylor said nothing. Traylor then pulled a black semiautomatic .40 caliber Glock handgun from behind his back, and fired five times. Bullets struck Stark, Schiele's bicycle, and Robinson's car. Neither Schiele nor Stark had entered the yard. Traylor fled. Robinson put the fatally wounded Stark in his car and drove to a hospital. Stark bled to death.

A few weeks before the shooting, Traylor's stepfather, with whom Traylor was living, reported to the police that his black semiautomatic .40 caliber Glock handgun had been stolen from his vehicle. There were no signs of forced entry to the vehicle. During that time frame, Traylor showed Schiele a handgun, and stated, "If anybody messes with me, I'll shoot them." About a week before the shooting, Traylor was seen arguing with Stark and Robinson, and later displayed a black semiautomatic handgun. Traylor remarked that if Robinson ever "came at him with a gun" he would shoot him.

1. The evidence was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find Traylor guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the felony murder and aggravated assault of Stark. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).

2. Traylor contends that the trial court erred by refusing to let him present evidence that he knew Robinson owned and usually carried a handgun. He argues that the trial court improperly excluded such evidence on the basis that it would be inappropriate character evidence, when in fact, it was relevant to the reasonableness of his fear, which was critical for his claim of self-defense. But the argument is unavailing.

As Traylor notes,

[a]s a general rule, a victim's² character is not relevant or admissible in the murder trial. There is an exception when the defendant claims justification and offers evidence that the [victim] was the first aggressor. In Georgia, this exception permits the defendant to present evidence of both the [victim's] general reputation for violence and specific acts of violence against third persons.

Austin v. State, 268 Ga. 602, 602-603(2), 492 S.E.2d 212 (1997). Moreover,

A necessary prerequisite to the admission of evidence of a victim's violence is the defendant's establishment of a prima facie showing of justification. [Cit.] A prima facie case of justification requires a showing that the victim was the aggressor, that the victim assaulted the defendant, and that the defendant was honestly trying to defend [him]self. [Cit.]

Harrison v. State, 268 Ga. 574, 577(3), 492 S.E.2d 218 (1997) (Internal citations and quotation marks omitted). The trial court determined, inter alia, that Traylor did not make the required threshold showing. And the record supports the determination that Robinson was not the aggressor in the encounter with Traylor, nor did Robinson assault Traylor. Traylor argues that such analysis was inapplicable because the sought evidence did not implicate Robinson's character.

It is certainly true, as Traylor points out, that neither owning nor possessing a firearm, without more, imputes bad character. Henderson v. State, 272 Ga. 621, 622(2), 532 S.E.2d 398 (2000).³ However, this Court has required a defendant to establish a prima facie case of justification in the instance in which the defendant seeks to admit evidence of the victim's reputation for carrying a gun. Cooper v. State, 249 Ga. 58, 60-61(2), 287 S.E.2d 212 (1982). But, even assuming arguendo, as Traylor maintains, that the more appropriate analysis is merely to ask the question whether such evidence is relevant, Traylor still cannot demonstrate that the evidence was improperly excluded.

An acceptable test for relevancy is whether the evidence offered renders the desired inference more probable than it would be without the evidence. Smith v. State, 270 Ga. 240, 243(4), 510 S.E.2d 1 (1998). Obviously, Traylor desired to have the jury infer that because he knew that Robinson owned and usually carried a handgun, Traylor acted out of reasonable fear in firing his weapon.⁴ But, the fact that Robinson may have owned or carried a handgun prior to the fatal shooting does not tend to prove that he had a handgun on his person and intended to use it against Traylor when he approached him.⁵ Compare Smith v State, supra. (incidents involving the defendant and the victim carrying illegal weapons and soliciting another to help commit a robbery and murder were relevant and admissible to defendant's claims of self-defense and voluntary manslaughter); Gibson v. State, 176 Ga. 384, 168 S.E. 47 (1933) (in defendant's claim of self-defense and the presence of evidence that the victim threatened and drew a gun on defendant, it was error to exclude evidence that the victim had a reputation for habitually and notoriously carrying deadly weapons). The relevant inquiry was whether Robinson had a gun on his person at the time of the fatal encounter with Traylor, and the trial court ruled that it would permit Traylor to question Robinson about whether he had a handgun with him at the time of the incident. See Murphy v. State, 259 Ga. 388, 383 S.E.2d 112 (1989).

3. Traylor also contends that the trial court erred by refusing to permit him to present evidence of an incident claimed to have occurred a few months before the shooting in which Stark pointed a gun at Traylor. But, this contention is likewise unavailing. As Traylor concedes, such evidence would implicate Stark's character; therefore, Traylor was required to make the requisite showing that the victim was the aggressor, assaulted him, and that he was honestly trying to defend himself. Harrison v. State, supra at 577(3), 492 S.E.2d 218. Traylor failed to make such a showing with regard to Stark or Robinson. See Division 2, supra. Evidence of the alleged prior incident with Stark could not be used to satisfy Traylor's burden of establishing his prima facie case of justification because such prima facie case must be based upon the res gestae of the crime on trial, not on prior incidents. Johnson v. State, 270 Ga. 234, 236(3), 507 S.E.2d 737 (1998).

4. Traylor raised the issue of his competency to stand trial in his motion for new trial. See Florescu v. State, 276 Ga.App. 264, 623 S.E.2d 147 (2005). He did so in the context of a claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel, but he later abandoned the contention of ineffectiveness and pursued the underlying issue of his competence, asserting violations of both procedural and substantive due process. Following a hearing in the matter, at which Traylor's trial counsel and a clinical psychologist and a clinical neuropsychologist who had both examined Traylor testified, the trial court rejected Traylor's procedural and substantive due process claims and denied his motion for new trial.

a) Citing Pate v. Robinson, 383 U.S. 375, 86 S.Ct. 836, 15 L.Ed.2d 815 (1966), Traylor contends that the trial court violated his right to procedural due process by failing to hold a competency hearing when a bona fide doubt about his competency arose at trial.

Traylor did not, either prior to or during trial, raise the issue of his competency to stand trial or seek a hearing regarding his competency. However, a trial court is to conduct, sua sponte, a competency hearing when there is information which becomes known to it, prior to or at the time of the trial, sufficient to raise a bona fide doubt regarding the defendant's competence. Collins v. State, 259 Ga.App. 587(2), 578 S.E.2d 201 (2003). The salient question is whether the trial court received information which, objectively considered, should reasonably have raised a doubt about the defendant's competency and alerted the trial court to the possibility that the defendant could neither understand the proceedings, appreciate their significance, nor rationally aid his attorney in his defense. Collins v. State, supra at 587(2), 578 S.E.2d 201; Baker v. State, 250 Ga. 187, 190(1), 297 S.E.2d 9 (1982). In order to answer this question, the appellate court must focus on any evidence of the defendant's irrational behavior, the defendant's demeanor at trial, and any prior medical opinion regarding the defendant's competence to stand trial. Collins v. State, supra at 587(2), 578 S.E.2d 201. But,...