Castleberry v. State

553 S.E.2d 606, 274 Ga. 290, 2001 Fulton County D. Rep. 2983, 2001 Ga. LEXIS 770
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedOctober 1, 2001
DocketS01A1042
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 553 S.E.2d 606 (Castleberry v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Castleberry v. State, 553 S.E.2d 606, 274 Ga. 290, 2001 Fulton County D. Rep. 2983, 2001 Ga. LEXIS 770 (Ga. 2001).

Opinions

Hines, Justice.

A jury found Willie Marion Castleberry guilty of felony murder, armed robbery, and aggravated assault in connection with the fatal shooting of service station operator Eugene McCorkle Johnson. Cas-tleberry appeals his convictions, claiming error in the trial court’s sustaining the State’s objection to certain cross-examination, pros-ecutorial misconduct by the mention of a polygraph, and the ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Finding the claims to be without merit, we affirm.1

[291]*291On October 23, 1975, the police were summoned to McCorkle’s Service Station on Old Augusta Highway in McDuffie County. When they arrived, Johnson, who ran the station in the evenings, was being loaded into the ambulance. He was later pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. Johnson had sustained three gunshot wounds: in the left side of the face, in the back of the upper left arm, and in the back of the torso, damaging the left lung and the heart. The resulting hemorrhage led to Johnson’s death. Two of the wounds were caused by .38 caliber bullets.

Inside the service station, the police found blood drops on the counter and on the floor behind the counter. The cash register drawer was open and empty of bills. There was a beer can in a paper sack sitting on the counter. The police also found a pistol, identified as belonging to Johnson, several bullet casings, and a lead slug from a bullet. The “bullet” was near the blood on the floor behind the counter. The pistol had been fired five times.

Agent Talkington with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) was assigned to the case in 1997. When going through the file, Talkington found latent fingerprints which had been lifted from the paper sack containing the beer can found on the station counter. Aware that a new method of comparing fingerprints had been developed since the initial investigation of the case, Talkington resubmitted the fingerprints to the GBI laboratory. They were entered into the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), and a match was made with Castleberry. Talkington interviewed Castle-berry and took fingerprints from him. The fingerprints were submitted to the crime laboratory, where it was determined that they matched the latent fingerprints taken from the crime scene.

Talkington first interviewed Castleberry on November 20, 1998. As the interview progressed, Castleberry admitted being present when Johnson was killed but claimed that his companion, T. C. Butler, killed Johnson. On November 24, 1998, GBI Agent Rush interviewed Castleberry. Castleberry stated that he and “T. C.” went into the store “to pull a robbery,” that Castleberry did not intend for anyone to get hurt, but that “T. C.” panicked and shot the owner.

Butler pled guilty to Johnson’s murder and was sentenced prior to Castleberry’s trial. As a State’s witness, he testified that it was Castleberry’s idea to commit the robbery and that he agreed. Further, he stated that Castleberry had a .22 caliber pistol and that he had a .38 caliber pistol. They agreed that Castleberry would enter the station first and distract Johnson, then hold a pistol on him while Butler taped him up. Butler testified that when he entered the station, Castleberry already had his pistol out. Butler saw Johnson grab a pistol. Then Castleberry fired at Johnson one or two times, but Butler did not know whether the bullets struck Johnson. Butler then [292]*292shot Johnson twice. Castleberry grabbed the money before they drove away. They later divided it, getting $50 to $60 a piece, before Butler dropped Castleberry off at a club. Butler threw his pistol off a bridge before going home.

At trial, Castleberry testified that he did not have a handgun and did not know Butler had one until he saw him shoot Johnson. He denied there was any robbery plan or that he had ever told police that there was. He further denied taking any money from the cash register or receiving any money from the robbery. Castleberry said that he did not report the crime to the police because he feared for himself and his family.

1. Witness credibility is a matter for the jury. OCGA § 24-9-80; Akins v. State, 269 Ga. 838, 839 (1) (504 SE2d 196) (1998). The evidence was sufficient for a rational trier of fact to find Castleberry guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the felony murder of Johnson. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307 (99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979).

2. During Castleberry’s cross-examination of Butler, the State objected to his asking Butler if he pled guilty to Johnson’s murder on the basis that this was improper impeachment, and the trial court sustained the objection. Castleberry contends this was error, arguing that, like the defendant in Henderson v. State, 255 Ga. 687 (341 SE2d 439) (1986), he was attempting to determine the extent of the co-defendant’s culpability because if Butler acknowledged he committed and pled guilty to murder, then sole blame could be placed on him. He further complains that the court’s ruling caused him to have to introduce a copy of the plea into evidence, thereby precluding him from the right to the opening and concluding argument. But Castle-berry’s complaints are unavailing.

Contrary to what Castleberry now urges, at trial, Castleberry’s apparent reason for questioning Butler about his plea to the murder was to impeach Butler.2 “In order to discredit a witness on the basis of a conviction for a crime of moral turpitude, a certified copy of the record of conviction must be introduced into evidence; absent a waiver of the ‘best evidence rule,’ no other showing will suffice.” Sapp v. State, 271 Ga. 446, 448 (2) (520 SE2d 462) (1999). Therefore, the court correctly sustained the State’s objection of an improper attempt at impeachment.

Even if Castleberry’s reason for questioning Butler about his conviction for Johnson’s murder had been to attempt to establish Butler’s sole culpability, a defendant does not have the unfettered right to cross-examine an accomplice about the accomplice’s plea of [293]*293guilty. Barnes v. State, 269 Ga. 345, 354 (15) (496 SE2d 674) (1998). In Barnes, this Court determined that the proscription in OCGA § 24-3-523 is inapplicable where the accomplice takes the stand and is subject to cross-examination, and consequently that the accomplice’s guilty plea might be “used for a limited evidentiary purpose, such as to reflect on the witness’ credibility.” Barnes v. State at 354 (15), citing Foster v. State, 178 Ga. App. 478 (1) (343 SE2d 745) (1986). But Barnes in no manner absolved a defendant of the requirement of properly introducing the accomplice’s conviction into evidence. See Foster v. State at 478 (1).

Finally, Castleberry’s reliance on Henderson v. State, supra, is misplaced. There, the defendant attempted to cross-examine a witness, whom he claimed was the perpetrator, about whether the witness had previously used or sold cocaine, which was relevant to the motive that the defendant claimed the witness had to commit the crimes; but the trial court sustained the State’s objection on the basis of relevancy. Id. at 689 (1).

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Castleberry v. State
553 S.E.2d 606 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2001)

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Bluebook (online)
553 S.E.2d 606, 274 Ga. 290, 2001 Fulton County D. Rep. 2983, 2001 Ga. LEXIS 770, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/castleberry-v-state-ga-2001.