DocketNumber: S18A1209
Citation Numbers: 823 S.E.2d 743, 305 Ga. 57
Judges: Warren
Filed Date: 2/4/2019
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/29/2022
**57Appellant Gabriel Flannigan appeals his convictions for malice murder and other crimes stemming from the shooting death of Quantavious Ragsdale on November 17, 2007.
1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury's verdicts, the evidence presented at trial showed that Flannigan's co-indictee, Vantrez Jones,
Jones testified that, when Ragsdale returned to the apartment complex, Flannigan got in the back seat of the Excursion and Jones got in the front. Ragsdale passed Flannigan the pills Flannigan had requested, and Jones handed Ragsdale money. Flannigan struck Ragsdale in the head with a handgun and told him to take his pants off. Flannigan then shot Ragsdale in the head and pulled him out of the Excursion. Flannigan and Jones left the apartment complex in Ragsdale's Ford Excursion and went to retrieve Tiera's car from the gas station where they had left it earlier. Later that day, with Flannigan driving the Excursion and Jones driving Tiera's red car, the two men drove to a park near their neighborhood in DeKalb County and left the Excursion there. Jones testified that Flannigan exited the Excursion with a skullcap in one hand and that the two of them then drove to Jones's mother's house. A man who lives near the park where Flannigan and Jones left the Excursion testified that, on the day of the crimes, he saw a man get out of an Excursion at the park holding what looked like a rag and get into a red car, which then left the park. The man called the police, and an officer responded to the scene. That officer testified that there was blood on the driver's seat and door and that papers were strewn all over the Excursion. Two of Flannigan's fingerprints were later found on an envelope collected from the back seat of the vehicle.
Other evidence also implicated Flannigan. Ragsdale had been shot near the front of Woods's apartment. Woods testified that, because Flannigan had asked for Ragsdale's phone number, he called Flannigan's girlfriend and asked her where Flannigan was. She told him where to find Flannigan, and Woods and his brother went to confront him. Woods told Flannigan that he hoped that Flannigan "had nothing to do with that, not in front of my house with my mom and my granddaddy staying there." Flannigan admitted that he had purchased Ecstasy from Ragsdale that day, but denied any knowledge of the shooting. When Woods saw Flannigan, which was about an hour or two after the shooting, Flannigan was no longer wearing the one-piece coverall he had been wearing when Woods saw Flannigan earlier that day. Woods added that, several days later, after Flannigan learned that the police wanted Woods and his girlfriend to provide statements about the murder, Flannigan called him and told him that "you-all ain't giving a f**k about me, you-all **59wait 'til I don't give a f**k about you-all, and you need to tell that b**ch to shut up."
Additionally, Ragsdale owned a brown Louis Vuitton wallet with a beige "LV" on it. Tiera Jones testified that Flannigan was carrying a wallet matching that description when he returned to her apartment after the shooting. Because she had never seen Flannigan with that wallet, she asked whose it was; Flannigan responded that it was his. Tiera also testified that, several weeks before the incident, she heard Flannigan tell someone that "they was going to do something [to Ragsdale], get him or whatever." And several days after the incident, Flannigan tried to *747wash a black, one-piece coverall at Tiera's apartment. She saw dark brown stains on the suit and asked Flannigan what they were. He said it was mud, but she "knew it wasn't mud" and told him that he could not wash it there. Tiera also testified that a day after Flannigan overheard her talking to the police on the telephone, he attacked her while she was in her car, shattering her driver's window and breaking her left arm and a finger.
Flannigan does not contest the legal sufficiency of the evidence supporting his convictions. Nevertheless, in accordance with this Court's practice in murder cases, we have reviewed the record and conclude that, when viewed in the light most favorable to the verdicts, the evidence presented at trial and summarized above was sufficient to authorize a rational jury to find Flannigan guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes for which he was convicted. See Jackson v. Virginia ,
2. Flannigan contends that his trial counsel provided constitutionally ineffective assistance in two respects. We conclude that both claims are without merit.
To succeed on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, Flannigan must show that counsel's performance was deficient and that the deficient performance resulted in prejudice to him. Strickland v. Washington ,
**60(a) Flannigan's first claim is that trial counsel provided ineffective assistance when he did not object to the State's failure to lay the proper foundation for Officer Remmick to offer expert testimony that Flannigan's fingerprints were found on the envelope located in the backseat of Ragsdale's Excursion. We disagree.
To qualify as an expert, "generally all that is required is that a person must have been educated in a particular skill or profession; his special knowledge may be derived from experience as well as study. Formal education in the subject at hand is not a prerequisite for expert status." See Davis v. State ,
Here, the record shows that Officer Remmick did not testify about his specific training or experience regarding fingerprint evidence. But Officer Remmick did testify that he had been a crime-scene technician for the Fulton County Police Department for six years and had been a special agent for the Criminal Investigation Division of the United States Army for 20 years before that. He further testified that he was POST-certified as a crime-scene technician by the Georgia Police Academy, and that his chief responsibility in his current job with Fulton County was to process crime scenes, which included the collection of evidence.
*748At the motion for new trial hearing, Flannigan's trial counsel testified that "[i]t was clear to [him] that [Officer Remmick] was a crime scene technician and that he had worked in the field and what he had done at trial or in preparation for trial was pursuant to what his training was." He added that he thought Remmick was "actually qualified" to testify regarding fingerprint evidence and that, if he had objected to Remmick's testimony, it "wouldn't have made any difference."
Pretermitting whether counsel was deficient for failing to object under these circumstances, we turn to the prejudice prong of the **61Strickland inquiry and conclude that Flannigan has failed to show prejudice here. Based on the record and especially given that Remmick had extensive experience in crime-scene investigations and that trial courts have broad discretion to qualify experts, Flannigan has not shown a reasonable probability that, if trial counsel had objected to Remmick's qualifications, the State would not have been able to qualify Remmick as an expert and the trial court would have sustained an objection to Remmick's expert testimony. Flannigan therefore has failed to establish prejudice on this claim of ineffective assistance. See, e.g., Prothro v. State ,
(b) Flannigan next claims that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to impeach Vantrez Jones, Flannigan's co-indictee, by questioning Jones about the possible life sentences that he faced under the same indictment as Flannigan. However, because Jones did not have a concrete plea deal with the State in exchange for his testimony, the trial court could have exercised its discretion to prohibit trial counsel from questioning Jones about the potential penalties that he faced. See Smith v. State ,
3. Flannigan contends that Tiera Jones's testimony that Flannigan attacked her shortly after Ragsdale's murder was impermissible evidence of his bad character and that the trial court erred in admitting it.
After Tiera described the attack at trial, Flannigan objected that the testimony *749was irrelevant and moved to strike it. The prosecutor said that she had a "follow-up question to make it relevant," and asked Tiera why Flannigan attacked her in her vehicle. The trial court interrupted, indicating that it thought that the testimony was relevant to explain why the driver's side window in Tiera's car was covered in plastic,
The admission of evidence " 'lies within the sound discretion of the trial court, whose decision will not be disturbed on appeal absent a clear abuse of discretion.' " Young v. State ,
Judgment affirmed.
All the Justices concur.
A Fulton County grand jury first returned an indictment in this case in 2008, but on August 10, 2010, a grand jury re-indicted Flannigan and Vantrez Jones for malice murder (Count 1); felony murder predicated on aggravated assault (Count 2); felony murder predicated on criminal attempt to possess MDMA, a drug more commonly known as Ecstasy (Count 3); hijacking a motor vehicle (Count 4); armed robbery (Count 5); aggravated assault (Count 6); and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony (Count 7). Flannigan's trial began on August 24, 2010, and on August 30, 2010, the jury found him guilty of all charges. That same day, the trial court sentenced Flannigan to life in prison for malice murder, ten consecutive years for armed robbery, and five consecutive years for the firearm offense. The felony murder verdicts were vacated by operation of law. See Malcolm v. State ,
Jones was granted use immunity, see former OCGA § 24-9-28 (a), and testified against Flannigan. The use-immunity provision is found in the new Evidence Code at OCGA § 24-5-507 (a).
Davis was decided under the new Evidence Code, but it noted that " 'the evidentiary requirements relating to the admissibility of expert opinion testimony in a criminal case under the new Evidence Code (OCGA § 24-7-707 ) are nearly identical to those that applied under the former Evidence Code (OCGA § 24-9-67 )' " and that it therefore " 'is appropriate to rely ... on decisions under the old Code.' " Davis ,
At the time of Flannigan's trial, former OCGA § 24-2-2 provided: "The general character of the parties and especially their conduct in other transactions are irrelevant matter unless the nature of the action involves such character and renders necessary or proper the investigation of such conduct."
The photograph of Tiera's car that was admitted into evidence showed that the driver's side window was covered with plastic, and at least one witness-who testified that he saw Tiera's car on the day of the crimes at the apartment complex where the crimes occurred-was questioned at trial about the discrepancy between how the car looked at the time of the crimes and how it looked in the photograph that was admitted into evidence.