Glenn v. State

840 S.E.2d 368, 308 Ga. 310

• Court: Supreme Court of Georgia
• Decided: March 13, 2020
• Docket: S20A0058
• Status: Published

Opinion

308 Ga. 310 FINAL COPY

S20A0058. GLENN v. THE STATE.

MELTON, Chief Justice.

Following a jury trial, Demarquis Antonio Glenn appeals his

convictions for the murder of Quentieria Knight and possession of a

firearm during the commission of a felony.1 Glenn contends that the

trial court abused its discretion when it denied his motion to

suppress. For the reasons below, we affirm.

1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the

1 A Decatur County grand jury indicted Glenn on February 7, 2017, for

crimes related to the shooting deaths of Knight and Marcus Bell. On August 15, 2017, Glenn was re-indicted. The second indictment brought the same charges as the first indictment, but expanded the date range for certain offenses. Prior to the start of his trial, the trial court severed the offenses involving Marcus Bell, and Glenn proceeded to trial solely on the counts of the indictment related to the death of Knight: Count 1 (malice murder), Count 2 (felony murder predicated on aggravated assault), Count 3 (aggravated assault), and Count 6 (possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony). The jury found Glenn guilty on all charges on February 14, 2018. For sentencing purposes, Count 3 merged with Count 1, and Count 2 was vacated by operation of law. See Malcolm v. State, 263 Ga. 369 (4) (434 SE2d 479) (1993). The trial court sentenced Glenn to life without parole plus five consecutive years. Glenn filed a motion for new trial on March 12, 2018, which the trial court denied on April 18, 2019. Glenn timely filed a notice of appeal to this Court. His appeal was docketed to the term of this Court beginning in December 2019 and submitted for a decision on the briefs. evidence presented at trial shows the following. At 11:30 p.m. on

April 28, 2016, Knight clocked out from her shift at the Elberta

Crate and Box Company. A co-worker saw Knight give a ride to

Glenn, who worked with Knight. Glenn got into the passenger side

of Knight’s white Chevrolet Cobalt carrying a drawstring bag.

Knight never arrived home.

The next morning, Knight’s vehicle was discovered, still

running, parked on the side of the road. Knight, who had suffered

multiple gunshot wounds to her face, neck, and hands, was dead in

the driver’s seat. The police obtained records from a GPS tracker

installed in Knight’s car. The tracker showed that, after Knight’s

vehicle left the Elberta Crate and Box Company, it traveled west on

Highway 27, where it came to a stop at the intersection of Highway

27 and Zorn Road at 11:46 p.m. and did not move again. Video

surveillance recordings from a nearby convenience store showed

Glenn walking up to the store from the direction of Knight’s vehicle

at 11:53 p.m. Several minutes later, Glenn’s cousin, Terrence Baker,

pulled up to the convenience store. After hanging out at the store for about ten minutes, Glenn and Baker got in Baker’s car. The

recording showed Glenn wearing a black drawstring bag on his back

as he entered Baker’s car. Baker then drove Glenn home.

Glenn and Baker were interviewed by the police on the

afternoon of April 29, 2016. After the interviews, police obtained a

search warrant for Glenn’s residence to look for the drawstring bag

and any firearms or ammunition. In the ensuing search, police

found a Hi-Point 9mm pistol, along with 9mm ammunition. Testing

revealed that the bullets and casings recovered from the crime scene

and from Knight’s body had been fired by the gun recovered from

Glenn’s residence. A firearms transaction report showed that Glenn

purchased the pistol from a local pawn shop in 2014.

Although Glenn does not challenge the sufficiency of the

evidence supporting his convictions, as is our practice in murder

cases, we have reviewed the record and conclude that the evidence

presented at trial was sufficient for the jury to find Glenn guilty

beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes for which he was convicted.

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307, 319 (III) (B) (99 SCt 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979).

2. In his sole enumeration of error, Glenn argues that the trial

court wrongly denied his motion to suppress because the affidavit

submitted in support of the search warrant did not establish with

reasonable probability that the contemplated evidence would be

present at his home. A trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress

is reviewed for abuse of discretion. Jordan v. State, 303 Ga. 709, 712

(2) (814 SE2d 682) (2018). However, in this case, there is nothing to

review, as the transcript of the motion hearing and the trial court’s

written order are not part of the appellate record. The motion to

suppress was filed, argued, and ruled upon while the first

indictment was in effect. Glenn filed his notice of appeal under the

second indictment number. Thus, the appellate record only contains

records related to the second indictment. Unless motions that were

ruled upon under a previous indictment are renewed or incorporated

into the operative indictment, they are not automatically part of the

record. See, e.g., Banks v. State, 251 Ga. App. 421, 422 (554 SE2d

500) (2001) (at State’s request, the trial court adopted and incorporated prior motions from two previous indictments as part of

the record for the third indictment). “It is the burden of the

appellant to ensure that the record is complete, and when this is not

done, there is nothing for the appellate court to review.” (Citation

and punctuation omitted.) Johnson v. State, 296 Ga. 504, 507 (3)

(769 SE2d 87) (2015).

Judgment affirmed. Nahmias, P. J., and Blackwell, Boggs, Peterson, Warren, Bethel, and Ellington, JJ., concur.

DECIDED MARCH 13, 2020. Murder. Decatur Superior Court. Before Judge Lanier. Patrick E. Chisholm, for appellant. Joseph K. Mulholland, District Attorney, Moruf O. Oseni, Assistant District Attorney; Christopher M. Carr, Attorney General, Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Matthew B. Crowder, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.