Grant v. State

824 S.E.2d 255, 305 Ga. 170
Supreme Court of Georgia·Decided February 18, 2019·No. S18A1060·Published·Cited by 17 cases

Opinion

Peterson, Justice.

**170Varocus Grant appeals his convictions for malice murder and firearm possession during the commission of a felony in relation to the shooting death of Travis Shivers.1 Grant argues that he was **171denied a fair trial because the jury array was selected in a manner inconsistent with the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U. S. Constitution and Georgia statutory law, that the trial court erred by denying a motion in limine to exclude an incriminating statement by Grant, that the trial court erred by admitting testimony about fingerprint evidence, and that his trial counsel was ineffective for numerous reasons. We affirm.

The trial evidence viewed in the light most favorable to the verdicts showed that on the evening of October 1, 2011, Grant, along with an unknown man, attacked, shot, and killed Travis Shivers. A week prior to the shooting, Grant was witnessed speaking angrily to some male friends and was overheard saying, "I see that n****r, I'm going to do that n****r, I'm going to kill that n****r." On the night of the murder, various witnesses placed Grant and an unknown man near the Holsey Cobb Village apartments ("the Village"), where the shooting occurred.

*260Grant was wearing a hat and a dark hooded sweatshirt, and appeared angry.

That night, Jasmine Paul (Shivers's cousin) and Kaleesha Ross heard gunshots coming from the Village. Ross fled towards the nearest store while Paul ran towards the Village. As Paul approached the scene of the crime, she recognized Shivers's voice calling out that he had been shot. Paul then saw Grant shoot Shivers several times while an unknown man continually pushed and kicked Shivers to the ground. Grant and the unidentified man fled the scene, and Paul called for help.

The next morning, Grant voluntarily appeared at the police station, was informed of his rights, waived them, and agreed to talk to the police. During the interview, Grant's statements placed him at the scene of the crime. The night before, investigators recovered a can of Mountain Dew and a blue Dallas Cowboys hat near the victim. Grant acknowledged that he both lost a hat and dropped a can of Mountain Dew near the scene.

1. Although Grant does not expressly challenge the sufficiency of the evidence, we have independently reviewed the record and conclude that the trial evidence was legally sufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find beyond a reasonable doubt that he was guilty of the crimes for which he was convicted. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).

2. Grant argues that he was denied a fair trial because the jury array was selected in a manner that deprived him of a fair cross-section of the community as required by the Sixth Amendment, **172Fourteenth Amendment2 , and OCGA § 15-12-40.1.3 We disagree.

To challenge the composition of a randomly selected jury array, a defendant must prove that "persons [were] ... systematically excluded on the basis of race or other cognizable grouping[.]" Jackson v. State, 294 Ga. 431, 434 (3), 754 S.E.2d 322 (2014) ("While traverse jury lists must consist of a representative and fair cross-section of the community to the fullest extent possible, the same is not true of an array ." (emphasis in original)).

Here, Grant has failed to meet this burden because he fails to present any evidence of systematic or purposeful discrimination. To support his claim, Grant relies solely on the fact that the race of 111 of the 162 jurors of the array was marked as undetermined. Grant argues that this lack of information shows that the composition of the array amounted to "discrimination by random process," and that the State failed to show a fair cross-section. Grant misunderstands the burden of proof - he, not the State, bears the burden of proof on this issue. Id. at 433, 754 S.E.2d 322. The lack of information upon which Grant relies proves nothing, and Grant cannot prevail.

3. Grant argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion in limine to exclude his statement, "I see that n****r, I'm going to do that n****r, I'm going to kill that n****r," because it was irrelevant and highly prejudicial. We disagree.

A motion in limine is a pretrial method of determining the admissibility of evidence and should be granted only if "there is no circumstance under which the evidence ... is likely to be admissible at trial." Forsyth County v. Martin, 279 Ga. 215, 221 (3), 610 S.E.2d 512 (2005) ; see also United States v. Mitchell, 954 F.2d 663, 665 (11th Cir. 1992). We review the denial of a motion in *261limine for abuse of discretion. State v. Wilkins, 302 Ga. 156, 160, 805 S.E.2d 868 (2017).

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Grant v. State, 824 S.E.2d 255, 305 Ga. 170 (Ga. 2019).

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