Gadson v. State

815 S.E.2d 828
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedJune 18, 2018
DocketS18A0123
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 815 S.E.2d 828 (Gadson 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
Gadson v. State, 815 S.E.2d 828 (Ga. 2018).

Opinion

NAHMIAS, Justice.

Appellant Joseph Gadson and his brother Nkosi Gadson were tried together and found guilty of the murder of Amady Seydi and other crimes committed against Seydi and his girlfriend Tarah Medsker over the span of three weeks in the fall of 2005. Appellant contends that the trial court committed plain error with regard to one burglary charge by failing to instruct the jury on the State's burden of proof when the evidence of a crime is wholly circumstantial. He also contends that he cannot obtain full and fair appellate review of his convictions because five documents are missing from the record of the trial. As explained below, Appellant has not established plain error in the omission of the proof-by-circumstantial-evidence instruction, nor has he shown that he has been harmed by the incomplete record. We therefore affirm his convictions.1

*8311. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdicts, the evidence presented at trial showed the following. According to Medsker, in 2005 she lived with Seydi in the same apartment complex as Appellant and his brother Nkosi. Seydi sold small amounts of marijuana out of his apartment, and Medsker knew Nkosi because he often purchased marijuana from Seydi. In late September, a few weeks before the murder, Seydi and Nkosi got into a heated dispute over a marijuana deal, and Seydi told Nkosi not to come back to his apartment again. Two days later, Seydi and Medsker's apartment was burglarized, and several cameras, some marijuana, and other items were stolen. That night, Appellant came to the apartment, and he appeared "a little nervous" when he and Seydi discussed the burglary.

Two or three days before the murder, Appellant and Nkosi came to the apartment, and Nkosi pointed a gun at Seydi and Medsker. The brothers then demanded that Seydi give them half of his profits from his marijuana sales each day, took Seydi's gun and Medsker's cell phone, and left. Because of that incident, Seydi and Medsker decided to move, and they rented a truck and began packing.

On the evening of October 11, 2005, Seydi and Medsker were at the apartment removing the last of their belongings. Medsker answered a knock on the door and let in a man she believed was a friendly acquaintance. He was followed in by Nkosi and Appellant, who wore a dark nylon mask; Medsker was able to identify Appellant because she could see his face through the stocking mask and recognized his voice, stature, and demeanor. Appellant held a gun to Medsker's head while Nkosi sought out Seydi. Seydi was shot multiple times and died almost immediately. During an interview with the police that night, Medsker identified Nkosi in a photo lineup as one of the assailants, and a few days later she identified Appellant in another photo lineup as the masked assailant.2

The State's evidence also showed that on the day after the murder, the police arrested the brothers and searched their apartment. The police found a black stocking mask, a camera stolen in the first burglary, and the gun and cell phone taken from Seydi and Medsker a couple of days before the murder. They also found some marijuana and a pipe that tested positive for cocaine.3 Appellant and Nkosi admitted during their interviews with the police that they were involved in a dispute with Seydi over marijuana and money.

Appellant does not contend that the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions as a matter of constitutional due process. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). 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 *832evidence presented at trial and summarized above was legally sufficient to authorize a rational jury to find Appellant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes for which he was convicted. See id. See also Reeves v. State, 288 Ga. 545, 546, 705 S.E.2d 159 (2017) (explaining that "the determination of a witness'[s] credibility, including the accuracy of eyewitness identification, is within the exclusive province of the jury," and that former OCGA § 24-4-8 (now OCGA § 24-14-8 ) provides that "[t]he testimony of a single witness is generally sufficient to establish a fact" (citation and punctuation omitted) ).

2. Appellant contends that the trial court committed plain error by failing to give the jury an instruction based on former OCGA § 24-4-6 regarding the State's burden of proof when the evidence of a crime is wholly circumstantial. That statute-a part of the old Evidence Code in effect at the time of Appellant's trial in 2008 that was carried forward in the new Evidence Code as OCGA § 24-14-6 -says: "To warrant a conviction on circumstantial evidence, the proved facts shall not only be consistent with the hypothesis of guilt, but shall exclude every other reasonable hypothesis save that of the guilt of the accused." Appellant concedes that he failed to object to the omission of this instruction and that our review of his claim that it should have been given is therefore limited to plain error. See OCGA § 17-8-58 (b) ; State v. Kelly, 290 Ga. 29, 32, 718 S.E.2d 232 (2011). To establish plain error, Appellant must show that the instructional error alleged was not affirmatively waived, was obvious beyond reasonable dispute, likely affected the outcome of the proceeding, and seriously affected the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings. See Durham v. State, 292 Ga. 239, 241, 734 S.E.2d 377 (2012).

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Bluebook (online)
815 S.E.2d 828, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gadson-v-state-ga-2018.