Daniel W. Taylor v. State

Court of Appeals of Georgia·Decided July 7, 2014·No. A14A0497·Published

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.

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.

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

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.’”)

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

motion to dismiss on constitutional speedy trial grounds. We disagree.

“Barker v. Wingo16 and Doggett v. United States17 . . . guide a court in its

consideration of whether a delay in bringing an accused to trial amounts to a denial

of his right to a speedy trial.”18 Our Supreme Court has recently reiterated that

[i]n Georgia, the application of these principles to the circumstances of a particular case is a task committed principally to the discretion of the trial courts, and it is settled law that our role as a court of review is a limited one. Under our precedents, we must accept the factual findings of the trial court unless they are clearly erroneous, and we must accept the ultimate conclusion of the trial court unless it amounts to an abuse

15 See, e.g., Lindsey v. State, 247 Ga. App. 166, 168 (1) (543 SE2d 117) (2000)

(“An exigent circumstance which does justify the warrantless entry of a private home is the officer’s reasonable belief that such action is a necessary response on his part to an emergency situation. It has been repeatedly held that reasonable concern for a victim’s welfare justifies a warrantless entry.”) (citation and punctuation omitted).

16 407 U. S. 514 (92 SCt 2182, 33 LE2d 101) (1972).

17 505 U. S. 647 (112 SCt 2686, 120 LE2d 520) (1992).

18 State v. Alexander, __ Ga. ___ (Case No. S14A0439, decided May 5, 2015).

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