Walker v. The State
| Decision Date | 19 August 2010 |
| Docket Number | No. A10A0803.,A10A0803. |
| Citation | 699 S.E.2d 902,305 Ga.App. 607 |
| Parties | WALKERv.The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
Robert M. Bearden Jr., for appellant.
Howard Z. Simms, Dist. Atty., for appellee.
POPE, Senior Appellate Judge.
Harry Walker was convicted of two counts of armed robbery, four counts of kidnapping, and four counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. On appeal, Walker challenges the sufficiency of the evidence and contends that his due process rights were violated because the state failed to produce discoverable evidence associated with another robbery suspect investigated by the police. He further contends that the trial court improperly denied his motions for funds to hire an expert on eyewitness identification and for a mistrial; gave erroneous jury charges on eyewitness identification and witness credibility; and erred by not granting him leave to file an out-of-time motion for new trial. For the following reasons, we affirm.
1. Walker contends that there was insufficient evidence to convict him of the charged offenses.
On appeal from a criminal conviction, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and an appellant no longer enjoys the presumption of innocence. This Court determines whether the evidence is sufficient under the standard of Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979), and does not weigh the evidence or determine witness credibility. Any conflicts or inconsistencies in the evidence are for the jury to resolve. As long as there is some competent evidence, even though contradicted, to support each fact necessary to make out the [s]tate's case, we must uphold the jury's verdict.
(Citations and punctuation omitted.) Rankin v. State, 278 Ga. 704, 705, 606 S.E.2d 269 (2004). With these principles in mind, we turn to the facts of this case, which centered on the robbery of two separate finance companies in March 2000 by a single gunman later identified as Walker, who initially posed as a loan applicant.
The Bibb Finance Robbery. Around lunchtime on March 1, 2000, two female employees were working in the front office of the Bibb Finance Company. No other employees or customers were in the office at that time. Walker then came into the office, crossed the room to face one of the employees at the front counter, and asked to complete a loan application. The employee began taking down Walker's credit information and entering it into her computer. Walker gave a fictitious name and stated that he worked as a roofer for a company called L.E. Schwartz, that his landlord was H.D. Meadows, and that he paid $465 in rent.
After the loan application was completed, the employee handed Walker her business card and asked him to call or come back in an hour to see if his application had been approved. At that point, Walker came around the front counter, pulled out a handgun, and ordered the two employees “to get to the back of the office.” Brandishing the handgun, Walker followed the two employees as they proceeded to the back area of the office where there was a break room and bathroom.
Once in the break room, Walker pulled out a roll of duct tape and ordered the first employee to bind the wrists of the second employee. After the second employee was bound, Walker took the tape and bound the wrists of the first employee. Walker then moved the two employees into the back bathroom, warned them not to try to escape from the bathroom for twenty minutes or he would hurt them, and closed the bathroom door.
Walker returned to the front office and began taking money and personal checks out of the drawers. Around that time, a female customer entered the office and saw Walker, who told her to come back in about 20 minutes because he was “cleaning up.” The customer left, and Walker fled from the office. After Walker was gone, the two employees were able to free themselves from the duct tape, escape from the bathroom, and dial 911. The police responded to the scene but were unable to identify or apprehend a suspect at that time. The cash and checks stolen from the office were never recovered.
The Macon Finance Robbery. A strikingly similar robbery occurred at the Macon Finance Company during the morning hours of March 13, 2000. As in the prior robbery, two female employees were alone in the front office when Walker entered and asked to complete a loan application. One of the employees began taking down Walker's credit information. Walker gave the same fictitious name, employer, and amount of rent as with the Bibb Finance application. Walker further stated that he was employed as a “roofer helper” and identified his landlord as H.D. Hard.
Once again, after the loan application was completed, Walker came over the front counter, pulled out a handgun, and ordered the two employees “to get straight to the back room.” The employees complied, and after their wrists were bound with duct tape, Walker forced them to get down on the floor in a back closet. Walker warned them not to try to escape from the closet for 20 minutes or he would kill them.
Walker returned to the front office and began taking any cash that he could find in the desks. At that point, a manager from a neighboring business came into Macon Finance and saw Walker as he was pulling money out of a desk and placing it in a plastic bag. Walker pointed his handgun toward the manager, who turned around and ran from the office. The manager ran back to his business and had one of his own employees dial 911.
Walker fled from the office and was able to escape without police detection. After Walker escaped, another person entered the office, discovered the two employees in the back closet, and released them. As with the Bibb Finance robbery, the cash stolen from the office was never recovered.
The Investigation. County detectives assigned to the case began investigating the fictitious loan applications completed by Walker. One of the detectives was able to locate a landlord by the name of H.D. Meadows, who identified Walker as the tenant who had rented property from him for $465. Additionally, Walker had formerly been employed on a commercial roofing crew at L.E. Schwartz & Son. Walker also was of the same race and general weight as identified by the witnesses to the two robberies. The social security number provided on the Macon Finance loan application, moreover, was the same as Walker's social security number, but with the order of some of the numbers slightly altered.
The detectives applied for and obtained an arrest warrant for Walker and a search warrant for his residence. In the residence, the police found a handgun that matched the description given by the witnesses to the two robberies, clothing that matched the description given by the witnesses to the Macon Finance robbery, and a sticky note that had the name H.D. Meadows written on it next to the figure $465.17. Walker was arrested that same day.
Once Walker was in police custody, the detectives placed him in a lineup with other inmates. The two Bibb Finance employees, the customer who walked into Bibb Finance during the robbery, the two Macon Finance employees, and the manager who walked into Macon Finance during the robbery separately viewed the lineup. Each of the six eyewitnesses identified Walker from the lineup as the perpetrator. Walker subsequently was indicted, tried, and convicted by a jury of multiple counts of armed robbery, kidnapping, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
(a) Walker maintains that the state failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was the perpetrator of the alleged offenses. We disagree.
In order to establish armed robbery, the state must prove that the defendant, “with intent to commit theft, [took the] property of another from the person or the immediate presence of another by use of an offensive weapon.” OCGA § 16-8-41(a). To prove kidnapping, the state must demonstrate that the defendant abducted or stole away another person without lawful authority or warrant and held such person against his or her will. OCGA § 16-5-40(a). Finally, to prove possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, the state must show that the defendant had “on or within arm's reach of his or her person a firearm ... during the commission of ... [a]ny crime against or involving the person of another.” OCGA § 16-11-106(b)(1).
At trial, the two Bibb Finance employees, the customer who walked into Bibb Finance during the robbery, the two Macon Finance employees, and the manager who walked into Macon Finance during the robbery testified to the events as set out above and identified Walker in court as the perpetrator of the respective robberies. Furthermore, the state presented evidence that these six eyewitnesses previously identified Walker in the lineup as the perpetrator. This evidence, standing alone, was sufficient to support Walker's convictions. See OCGA § 24-4-8 (); Dunn v. State, 262 Ga.App. 643, 645(1), 586 S.E.2d 352 (2003) () (punctuation and footnote omitted).
The state also presented circumstantial evidence of Walker's guilt. In this respect, the state introduced into evidence the fictitious loan applications associated with the two robberies, and testimony from the landlord H.D. Meadows, a human resources director at L.E. Schwartz & Son, and the county detectives linking Walker to information contained in those applications. Additionally, the state introduced into evidence the handgun, clothing items, and sticky note seized during the search of Walker's residence.
This combined direct and circumstantial evidence was more than sufficient to authorize a rational jury to find Walker guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the charged offenses. Jackson, 443...
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