Allen v. State , 296 Ga. 738 ( 2015 )

In the Supreme Court of Georgia
Decided: March 16, 2015
S14A1884. ALLEN v. THE STATE.
HINES, Presiding Justice.
Deimeyon X. Allen (“Allen”) appeals from his convictions and sentences
for the malice murder of Keith Booker, the aggravated assault of David Armour,
and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. For the reasons
that follow, we affirm.1
Construed to support the verdicts, the evidence showed that Allen and his
brother Antoine Allen (“Antoine”) lived in the same housing complex; Antoine
lived with his mother, and Allen lived in a separate unit. Roger Armour
1
The crimes were committed on October 14, 2008. On September 19, 2010, a Fulton County
grand jury indicted Allen for the malice murder of Booker, the felony murder of Booker while in the
commission of the crime of aggravated assault, the aggravated assault of Booker, possession of a
firearm during the commission of the crime of murder, and the aggravated assault of David Armour.
Allen was tried before a jury November 8-10, 2010, and found guilty of all charges. On November
16, 2010, Allen was sentenced to life in prison for the malice murder of Booker, a concurrent term
of 20 years in prison for the aggravated assault of David Armour, and a consecutive term of five
years in prison for possession of a firearm during the commission of the crime of murder; the
remaining charges either merged with a crime for which a sentence was entered or were vacated by
operation of law. See Malcolm v. State, 263 Ga. 369, 371-374 (4) (5) (434 SE2d 479) (1993). Allen
filed a motion for new trial on November 16, 2010, which he amended on June 6, 2011, and again
on July 31, 2012. On April 23, 2013, the motion, as amended, was denied. Allen filed a notice of
appeal on April 25, 2013, and the appeal was docketed in this Court for the September 2014 term
and submitted for decision on the briefs.
(“Roger”) lived in a nearby unit, across a parking area; at the time of the crimes,
Roger was outside his apartment with murder victim Booker, David Armour
(“David”), and several others, including Allen and Antoine.
David and others teased Antoine about a previous incident in which
Antoine had called the police, and David and Antoine began arguing; a
suggestion was made that the two men engage in fisticuffs, but Antoine said he
would shoot his tormentors instead, and he and Allen ran toward their mother’s
apartment, pursued by David and Booker.
Allen went in his mother’s apartment and emerged firing a Glock .40
caliber pistol at David and Booker, who fled to Roger’s apartment. Roger
retrieved his .380 caliber pistol and attempted to return fire, but the pistol
jammed. Inside the apartment, it was learned that Booker had been shot.
Booker was taken to a hospital, where he died of a single gunshot wound to his
heart; the bullet entered from his back. Allen told investigating law enforcement
officers that: he engaged the men in conversation when he went outside to take
out the trash; an argument ensued and continued as the men followed him
toward his mother’s apartment, with men pushing and pulling him; Roger was
the first to produce a pistol and pointed it at Allen and Antoine; Allen went to
2
his mother’s apartment to retrieve his .40 caliber Glock pistol, saw through the
window that the men were still outside, exited his mother’s apartment and found
one of the men pointing a pistol at him; he pulled his pistol from his waistband
and fired at the men, while they faced him; he ran and tossed his pistol away
before climbing a fence. Ten shell casings were found in the parking area
between the housing units of Allen’s mother and Roger, which casings were
from the same .40 caliber weapon; the projectile taken from Booker’s body was
also fired from a .40 caliber weapon. Allen’s .40 caliber Glock pistol was not
recovered.
1. The evidence was sufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find
beyond a reasonable doubt that Allen was guilty of the crimes of which he was
convicted. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (99 SCt 2781, 61 LE2d 560)
(1979).
2. In his motion for new trial, Allen relied in part on OCGA §§ 5-5-202
and 5-5-21,3 contending that the verdicts were decidedly and strongly against the
2
OCGA § 5-5-20 reads:
In any case when the verdict of a jury is found contrary to evidence and the principles
of justice and equity, the judge presiding may grant a new trial before another jury.
3
OCGA § 5-5-21 reads:
3
weight of the evidence, and contrary to the principles of equity and justice, such
as to warrant the exercise of the trial court’s discretion to grant a new trial.
Allen now contends that, in addressing his motion for new trial, the trial court
did not apply the correct standard, claiming that the trial court’s order denying
the motion found only that the evidence was sufficient to support the verdicts
under Jackson, supra, and thus, the case should be remanded.
As this Court has noted,
[e]ven when the evidence is legally sufficient to sustain a
conviction, a trial judge may grant a new trial if the verdict of the
jury is “contrary to . . . the principles of justice and equity,” OCGA
§ 5–5–20, or if the verdict is “decidedly and strongly against the
weight of the evidence.” OCGA § 5–5–21. When properly raised in
a timely motion, these grounds for a new trial — commonly known
as the “general grounds” — require the trial judge to exercise a
“broad discretion to sit as a ‘thirteenth juror.’” Walker v. State, 292
Ga. 262, 264 (2) (737 SE2d 311) (2013). In exercising that
discretion, the trial judge must consider some of the things that she
cannot when assessing the legal sufficiency of the evidence,
including any conflicts in the evidence, the credibility of witnesses,
and the weight of the evidence. See Choisnet v. State, 292 Ga. 860,
861 (742 SE2d 476) (2013). Although the discretion of a trial judge
to award a new trial on the general grounds is not boundless — it is,
after all, a discretion that “should be exercised with caution [and]
invoked only in exceptional cases in which the evidence
The presiding judge may exercise a sound discretion in granting or refusing new
trials in cases where the verdict may be decidedly and strongly against the weight of
the evidence even though there may appear to be some slight evidence in favor of the
finding.
4
preponderates heavily against the verdict,” Alvelo v. State, 288 Ga.
437, 438 (1) (704 SE2d 787) (2011) (citations and punctuation
omitted) — it nevertheless is, generally speaking, a substantial
discretion. See State v. Harris, 292 Ga. 92, 94 (734 SE2d 357)
(2012).
White v. State, 293 Ga. 523, 524 (2) (753 SE2d 115) (2013) (Footnote omitted.)
Allen’s characterization of the trial court’s order denying his motion for
new trial as incorrect because it did not apply the correct standard of review is
misplaced. The court did not simply state that the evidence was sufficient to
allow the jury to find Allen guilty, rather, the court’s order states:
After considering the record in this case, the Defendant’s amended
motions for new trial, the State’s response in opposition at the
hearing in this case, and the arguments by both the defendant and
State on the issues contained therein, the Defendant’s motion for
new trial is hereby DENIED.
Nothing in this order indicates that the trial court failed to “perform[] its ‘duty
to exercise its discretion and weigh the evidence’ in its consideration of the
general grounds. [Cit.]” White, supra at 525. The court did not state the
incorrect standard in its order, see Choisnet, supra; Manuel v. State, 289 Ga.
383, 386 (2) (711 SE2d 676) (2011), and nothing in the record indicates that the
court was unaware of its responsibility. See Copeland v. State, 327 Ga. App.
520, 525 (2) (759 SE2d 593) (2014). Indeed, the record demonstrates the
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opposite; during the hearing on the motion for new trial, the court’s attention
was specifically called to OCGA §§ 5-5-20 & 5-5-21, and that consideration of
the general grounds thereunder involved different issues than merely the
sufficiency of the evidence, and the court responded that it would not grant a
new trial as “the thirteenth juror.” The court clearly recognized that, in its
discretion, it could grant a new trial under the authority of OCGA §§ 5-5-20 and
5-5-21, and chose not to do so. Compare Alvelo, supra.
Allen also argues that the verdicts were against the weight of the evidence,
and that the trial court should have granted a new trial on the general grounds,
noting that there were inconsistencies in the evidence, and positing that Roger
had accidentally shot Booker. However,
[a] motion for new trial based on OCGA § 5–5–20, i.e., that the
verdict is contrary to the evidence, addresses itself only to the
discretion of the trial judge. Witt v. State, 157 Ga. App. 564 (2) (278
SE2d 145) (1981). Whether to grant a new trial based on OCGA §
5–5–21, i.e., that the verdict is strongly against the evidence, is one
that is solely in the discretion of the trial court, and the appellate
courts do not have the same discretion to order new trials. Willis v.
State, 263 Ga. 597 (1) (436 SE2d 204) (1993).
Smith v. State, 292 Ga. 316, 317 (1) (b) (737 SE2d 677) (2013). Thus, even
when an appellant asks this Court to review
a trial court’s refusal to grant a new trial on the general grounds,
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this Court must review the case under the standard set forth in
Jackson v. Virginia [supra], that is, if the evidence viewed in the
light most favorable to the prosecution, supports the verdict or
verdicts. [Cit.]
Williams v. State, __ Ga. ___, ___ (___ SE2d ___) (2015) (Case no. S14A1937,
decided Feb. 16, 2015). And, as noted in Division 1, supra, under the standard
set forth in Jackson, supra, the evidence authorized the jury to find Allen guilty
of the crimes of which he was convicted.
3. Allen contends that the court should have, sua sponte, granted a mistrial
because of unclear verdicts and other improprieties concerning the rendering of
the verdicts.4 The verdict form presented to the jury read, in pertinent part:
Count One - Murder. We, the jury, find the Defendant ____
Or
We, the jury, find the Defendant _____ of Voluntary Manslaughter.
And, it is uncontroverted that when the verdicts were initially presented
to the court, the verdict form had both of the above blanks filled in with the
word “Guilty.” The jury foreman then requested the verdict form be returned
to him, and he then wrote, on the back of it: “Change Voluntary Manslaughter
to NOT GUILTY,” but no change was made to the front of the form. The form
4
Allen asserts that the jury felt rushed in reaching its decisions and engaged in “improper
jury conduct,” but fails to show any instance of such in the record.
7
was presented to the court, and the foreman affirmed that the verdicts had been
agreed to by all 12 jurors. The foreman read the verdicts as follows:
Count one, murder, we, the jury find the defendant guilty.
Count two, felony murder, we, the jury find the defendant guilty.
Count three, aggravated assault, we, the jury find the defendant
guilty.
Count four, possession of a firearm during the commission of a
felony, we, the jury find the defendant guilty.
Count five, aggravated assault, we, the jury, find the defendant
guilty.
The verdicts were then reviewed by Allen’s counsel and the prosecutor. Allen
requested that the jury be polled; each juror answered affirmatively to three
questions: “Is this your verdict?”; “Was this your verdict in the jury room?”;
and, “Is this now your verdict?”
Although Allen argues that the completion of the verdict form shows that
the jury did not properly understand the crimes charged, he points to nothing in
the record other than the initial scrivener’s error, which was corrected. Allen
also asserts that he was deprived of unanimous verdicts. He specifically
contends that the trial court did not address any issue regarding the “unanimity
of the verdict” until a later hearing5 at which the jury foreman testified that he
5
Allen first raised a question regarding the jury form during the sentencing hearing six days
after the return of the verdicts, but declined to pursue any issue when the court recited the events
concerning the return of the verdicts to the foreman and his writing the notation on the back of the
8
made the notation on the back of the verdict form so as to reflect the jury’s
vote,6 but this contention is not correct. Rather, the court polled the jurors as to
whether the verdicts of guilty were indeed the verdicts of each juror.
“In criminal cases the privilege of polling a jury is the legal right of
the defendant, and does not depend upon the discretion of the
court.” [Cit.] The purpose of the rule is to insure that each member
of the jury assents to the verdict, and for the court to discern
possible coercion.
Benefield v. State, 278 Ga. 464, 466 (602 SE2d 631) (2004). “[A] negative
response to a poll question ‘is enough to raise the inference that the finding of
the jury was not concurred in by each of the jurors, and, this being true, there
was no legal verdict.’ [Cit.]” Id. When the jury was polled, there were no
negative responses, and the court did not err in determining that the jury reached
unanimous verdicts.
Judgments affirmed. All the Justices concur.
form.
6
The foreman testified that he had not initially realized the form allowed for only one guilty
verdict for either murder or voluntary manslaughter
9