Bills v. State

642 S.E.2d 352, 283 Ga. App. 660, 2007 Fulton County D. Rep. 569, 2007 Ga. App. LEXIS 158
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedFebruary 21, 2007
DocketA06A2405
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 642 S.E.2d 352 (Bills v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bills v. State, 642 S.E.2d 352, 283 Ga. App. 660, 2007 Fulton County D. Rep. 569, 2007 Ga. App. LEXIS 158 (Ga. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

MlKELL, Judge.

Jeremiah Maurice Bills was convicted of robbery, false imprisonment (three counts), simple battery as a lesser included offense of aggravated assault, and theft by taking. He was sentenced to an aggregate total of 25 years to serve 15 years. On appeal from the order denying his motion for a new trial, Bills asserts that the evidence does not support the verdict; that the trial court erred in denying his motion to exclude photographic lineups from the evidence; and that the court erred in overruling his objection to the prosecutor’s closing argument. We affirm.

1. Bills challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support his convictions of robbery, false imprisonment, and theft by taking. “In evaluating the sufficiency of the evidence supporting a conviction, this court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict. The presumption of innocence no longer applies, and we do not weigh evidence or determine witness credibility.”1 We only determine if the evidence was sufficient for a rational trier of fact to find the defendant guilty of the charged offenses beyond a reasonable doubt.2

So viewed, the evidence shows that on the morning the crimes took place, the victim was home on maternity leave with her six-week-old twin boys. She lived with her boyfriend, Michael Ingram, who was at work. While the babies were asleep on her bed, she gathered her laundry to put in her car. When the victim opened her apartment door, she saw a gloved hand. Immediately, she put her foot against the door to try and keep the perpetrator out. Three African-American males then pushed her door open. According to the victim, Bills pushed her against a wall and ordered her to walk back to her bedroom. He threatened to kill her and hurt her babies unless she cooperated. Bills did not attempt to obscure his face.

Bills carried a long butcher knife throughout the ordeal. At one point, the twins woke up, and the smaller one started crying. As the victim held him in her arms, Bills told her to “[g]et that baby to shut up,” and he reached over, put his hand on the baby’s chest, and shook him. The baby started crying harder, and the perpetrators finally allowed the victim to give the baby a bottle. The perpetrators stayed for an hour, eventually taking a diamond ring, a diamond tennis bracelet, an ATM card, medicine that had been prescribed for the victim following her C-section, and her 1999 BMW. They had found [661]*661the car keys in the apartment and demanded to know where the car was parked. Before the perpetrators left, they tied the victim’s hands and feet together with wire. She managed to free herself sufficiently to call 911 and her boyfriend.

The victim was still bound by electrical cord when Detective Tim Ashley arrived at her apartment in response to her 911 call. He testified that the residence was “completely ransacked.” Ashley learned that the victim had heard one of the perpetrators referred to as “Chris” and another as “Tu-Tu.” Ashley also learned that a man named Chris had “hung around with” Anna Shepherd, who was a friend of the victim’s boyfriend. Shepherd directed Ashley to Bills.

Ashley put together a photographic lineup, including Bills, and arranged for the victim to come to the police station to view it. The lineup was lying on Ashley’s desk, and the victim was seated across from the desk. As soon as the victim saw the lineup, she grabbed her chest and began to hyperventilate. When she calmed down enough to communicate verbally, she picked Bills’ photograph from the lineup and identified him as the first man who had entered her apartment on the previous day.

Shepherd, who had a brief romantic relationship with Bills, testified that the victim’s boyfriend, Ingram, was her best friend and that she had bragged to Bills about Ingram’s financial success. According to Shepherd, Bills asked her to take him to Ingram to rob him. Shepherd did not take Bills seriously.

(a) “A person commits the offense of robbery when, with intent to commit theft, he takes property of another from the person or the immediate presence of another . . . [b]y intimidation.”3 Bills claims that his conviction of this offense cannot be sustained because the property was not found in his possession, and the “only” evidence linking him to the crimes was the victim’s identification testimony. These contentions are misplaced. “[T]he testimony of the victim as a single witness is sufficient to establish a fact. OCGA § 24-4-8.”4 Thus, the victim’s testimony, standing alone, would have been sufficient to establish the elements of the offense of robbery. But in addition, her testimony was corroborated by that of Shepherd. Bills contends that Shepherd was not credible, because a defense witness, who had been a co-worker of Shepherd, testified that her reputation in the community was “[vindictive, a troublemaker, a liar.” “The credibility of a witness is a matter to be determined by the jury under proper [662]*662instructions from the court.”5 The jury was free to believe Shepherd and to disbelieve the defense witness. Construing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, any rational trier of fact could have found Bills guilty of robbery beyond a reasonable doubt.6

(b) “A person commits the offense of false imprisonment when, in violation of the personal liberty of another, he arrests, confines, or detains such person without legal authority.”7 “This statute on its face does not require that the imprisonment be for a specific length of time; all that is required is there be an arrest, confinement or detention of the person, without legal authority against his or her will. A brief detention is sufficient.”8 Contrary to Bills’ contention, evidence that the perpetrators bound the victim with electrical cord was sufficient for a jury to find that she was illegally detained against her will.9 Similarly, the jury could have found that the babies were confined without legal authority during the hour-long ordeal. The evidence supports the verdict.10

(c) “A person commits the offense of theft by taking when he unlawfully takes . . . any property of another with the intention of depriving him of the property.”11 Bills was indicted for theft by taking the victim’s BMW, and the jury was charged on the law of parties to a crime. The victim testified that the perpetrators took her keys and that when she freed herself sufficiently to look outside, her car was gone. “[T]here was sufficient competent evidence, both direct and circumstantial, to authorize the rational trier of fact to find appellant guilty as charged beyond a reasonable doubt” as a party to the crime of theft by taking.12

2. Bills argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress two photographic lineups. We disagree.

Testimony concerning a pre-trial identification of a defendant is inadmissible if the identification procedure was impermissibly suggestive and, under the totality of the circumstances, the suggestiveness gave rise to a substantial [663]*663likelihood of misidentification. . . .

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
642 S.E.2d 352, 283 Ga. App. 660, 2007 Fulton County D. Rep. 569, 2007 Ga. App. LEXIS 158, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bills-v-state-gactapp-2007.