Daniel W. Taylor v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedJuly 7, 2014
DocketA14A0497
StatusPublished

This text of Daniel W. Taylor v. State (Daniel W. Taylor 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
Daniel W. Taylor v. State, (Ga. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

FOURTH DIVISION DOYLE, P. J., MILLER and DILLARD, JJ.

NOTICE: Motions for reconsideration must be physically received in our clerk’s office within ten days of the date of decision to be deemed timely filed. http://www.gaappeals.us/rules/

July 7, 2014

In the Court of Appeals of Georgia A14A0497. TAYLOR v. THE STATE. DO-017 C

DOYLE , Presiding Judge.

Following a jury trial during which he represented himself, Daniel W. Taylor

was convicted of aggravated assault,1 five counts of terroristic threats,2 burglary,3

aggravated assault on a peace officer,4 obstruction of a law enforcement officer,5

1 OCGA § 16-5-21 (a) (2). 2 OCGA § 16-11-37 (a). 3 OCGA § 16-7-1 (b). 4 OCGA § 16-5-21 (a) (2), (c). 5 OCGA § 16-10-24 (b). removal of a weapon from a public official,6 and stalking.7 Taylor appeals pro se the

subsequent denial of his motion for new trial, arguing that the trial court erred by (1)

denying his motion to suppress; (2) denying his motion for plea in bar following his

speedy trial demand; (3) sentencing him as a recidivist; (4) failing to merge certain

charges; (5) engaging in judicial misconduct; (6) admitting false testimony; and (7)

failing to give his requested jury charges. Taylor also challenges the sufficiency of

the evidence. For the reasons that follow, we vacate Taylor’s conviction for

obstruction, affirm on the remaining counts, and remand for resentencing.

Viewed in favor of the verdict,8 the record shows that in early May 2008,

Taylor was estranged from his wife, Kassandra Norman, and she took from him the

key to her apartment.9 Thereafter, on May 7, 2008, Taylor left multiple threatening

voice mails for Norman in which he threatened to kill her. Later that day, Taylor

waited outside Norman’s gated apartment complex until he saw her and their two

6 OCGA § 16-10-33 (b) (2) (a). 7 OCGA § 16-5-90 (a) (1). Taylor was also charged with two counts of cruelty to children, but those counts were later nolle prossed by the State. 8 See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307, 319 (II) (B) (99 SCt 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979). 9 Taylor was not on the apartment lease, which was in Norman’s name.

2 children, crawled under the fence, charged towards her, and began striking her.

Taylor grabbed Norman, slammed her to the ground, causing her to strike her head

on the pavement, and cut her on her back and neck with a sharp object. Cedric Scott,

an apartment maintenance worker, observed the attack, yelled out, and chased Taylor,

who fled the scene.

On May 9, 2008, Norman applied for and obtained a family violence ex parte

protective order against Taylor,10 and she took her two children to a domestic

violence shelter to spend the night. The same day, Scott saw Taylor enter Norman’s

apartment building, and he called Deputy Wesley Carmack, the courtesy officer for

the apartment complex, and directed the employees in the office to call the police.

Carmack and Scott went to Norman’s apartment, where they observed that the

door had been kicked in and was ajar. Carmack, who was in plain clothes, but

wearing his badge, looked in and saw Taylor in the kitchen. Carmack entered the

apartment, announced himself as a police officer, showed Taylor his weapon, told

him that he was not allowed to be on the property, and directed him to turn around so

he could cuff him. After Carmack secured one of Taylor’s hands in the handcuffs,

Taylor began swinging at the officer, grabbed him, punched him, struck him in the

10 The record does not indicate when the order was served on Taylor.

3 head with the handcuffs, and repeatedly tried to grab his gun. Carmack eventually

shot Taylor in the foot after struggling with him for five or six minutes, during which

time Taylor continued to reach for his gun and refused the officer’s repeated

commands to release him. Taylor continued to struggle, but Scott and two other

maintenance workers were eventually able to subdue and cuff him. Police later found

a letter from Taylor to Norman stating that he came to the apartment to kill her, but

changed his mind and decided to kill himself instead, and they found a copy of

Taylor’s handwritten will.

Taylor was arrested and charged. Taylor fired at least four appointed attorneys

before eventually proceeding to trial pro se. Following his convictions, Taylor

appeals the denial of his subsequent motion for new trial.

1. As an initial matter, we note that a majority of Taylor’s arguments are not

supported by citations to the record as required by Court of Appeals Rule 25 (a) (1),

(c) (2) (1). As we have previously stated, “[o]ur requirements for appellate briefs were

created not to provide an obstacle, but to aid parties in presenting arguments in a

manner most likely to be fully and efficiently comprehended by this Court; a party

will not be granted relief should we err in deciphering a brief which fails to adhere

4 to the required form.”11 We further note that Taylor has attached numerous exhibits

to his appellate brief and caution him that “‘[e]xhibits attached to an appellate brief

but not appearing in the record transmitted by the trial court cannot be considered by

this court and afford no basis for reversal.’”12

2. Taylor argues that trial court erred by denying his motion to suppress the

evidence recovered from Norman’s apartment because the officer’s entry therein

violated his Fourth Amendment rights.13 This enumeration is without merit.

Pretermitting whether Taylor has standing to challenge the search,14 based upon

the evidence that Taylor viciously attacked Norman two days before, her testimony

that he was not authorized to be on the property, and the officer’s observation that

11 (Punctuation omitted.) Pruitt v. State, 323 Ga. App. 689, 689-690 (1) (747 SE2d 694) (2013). 12 Hughes v. State, 323 Ga. App. 4, 11 (4) (a) (ii) (746 SE2d 648) (2013). 13 We note that although the trial court initially failed to transmit the transcript of the July 14, 2010 hearing at which the parties presented argument and evidence regarding the motion to suppress and motion to dismiss on speedy trial grounds, the trial court has since supplemented the record with the transcript. 14 See Berry v. State, 313 Ga. App. 516, 519, n. 9 (722 SE2d 127) (2012) (“‘A person who is aggrieved by an illegal search and seizure only through the introduction of damaging evidence secured by a search of a third person’s premises or property has not had any of his Fourth Amendment rights infringed.’”)

5 Taylor had kicked in the door to her apartment, exigent circumstances justified

Deputy Carmack’s entry into the apartment.15

3. Taylor contends that the trial court erred by denying his plea in bar and

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Daniel W. Taylor v. State, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/daniel-w-taylor-v-state-gactapp-2014.