Weakley v. State
| Decision Date | 04 May 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 46593,46593 |
| Citation | 259 Ga. 205,378 S.E.2d 688 |
| Parties | WEAKLEY v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
David L. Cannon, Canton (Court-appointed), for Elbert Harvey Weakley, Jr.
Rafe Banks III, Gary T. Mass, Dist. Attys., Wallace W. Rogers, Jr., Asst. Dist. Atty., Canton, Michael J. Bowers, Atty. Gen., C.A. Benjamin Woolf for the State.
Elbert Weakley, Jr. was convicted for the murders of his wife, Renee Weakley, and her sister, Lori Maxwell, and for the aggravated assault of Lori Maxwell's one year-old daughter, Leann Maxwell. 1 He received consecutive life sentences for the murders plus a consecutive 20-year sentence for aggravated assault. He appeals, enumerating as error the sufficiency of the evidence, the state's use of testimony of an expert he had previously employed, and the admission of certain evidence.
The evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the jury's verdict, showed the following. At the time of the crimes, the defendant and his wife were in the midst of a bitter, contested divorce. The defendant was angry with, and had threatened, his wife and her sister because of a dispute about his visitation rights with his two children. Earlier, he had talked about killing his wife. The victims were shot with the same weapon the defendant claims was stolen from him the day of the crimes. The authorities noted muddy footprints at the crime scene, and the defendant was seen wearing muddy tennis shoes on the night of the crime. Evidence at the crime scene indicated a left-handed perpetrator, and the defendant is left-handed. The defendant went to the crime scene with a friend after the murders, and showed no surprise on seeing the back door broken and the cable television and telephone lines cut, on being told his wife and sister-in-law had been murdered and on seeing that his sister-in-law's baby had been shot.
1. Based on the foregoing evidence, we conclude a rational trier of fact could have found the defendant guilty of murder beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1969).
2. The defendant contends the trial court erred by allowing a firearms expert he had retained to be called as a witness for the state. None of the expert's testimony concerned confidential communications between the defendant and the defendant's attorney. See Frazier v. State, 257 Ga. 690, 693(8), 362 S.E.2d 351 (1987). The defendant's argument that the expert's testimony on the state's behalf violated his attorney-client privilege is meritless. See Sabel v. State, 248 Ga. 10, 18(6), 282 S.E.2d 61 (1981); Agnor, Use of Discovery Under the Georgia Civil Practice Act, Section 3-11 (3rd Ed., 1984).
3. The defendant claims error by the trial court's admission into evidence of a photograph...
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Davis v. State
...between Davis and his attorneys, they are not protected by the narrowly construed attorney-client privilege. See Weakley v. State, 259 Ga. 205(2), 378 S.E.2d 688 (1989). 7. Davis argues that the trial court erred in allowing the State to make improper closing arguments that the defense had ......
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Neuman v. State
...the attorney or client with a legal matter, the expert is part of the privileged network.”).6 The State relies on Weakley v. State, 259 Ga. 205(2), 378 S.E.2d 688 (1989), to support its argument that the attorney-client privilege does not apply when an expert's report, material, or testimon......
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Slade v. State
...Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); Trice v. State, 266 Ga. 102(1), 464 S.E.2d 205 (1995); Weakley v. State, 259 Ga. 205(1), 378 S.E.2d 688 (1989); Anderson v. State, 258 Ga. 70, 74(16), 365 S.E.2d 421 2. Slade contends that the trial court erred in denying his mot......
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Stargel v. State
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