Hamlin v. State

739 S.E.2d 46, 320 Ga. App. 29, 2013 Fulton County D. Rep. 464, 2013 Ga. App. LEXIS 111
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedFebruary 27, 2013
DocketA12A2209
StatusPublished

This text of 739 S.E.2d 46 (Hamlin 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
Hamlin v. State, 739 S.E.2d 46, 320 Ga. App. 29, 2013 Fulton County D. Rep. 464, 2013 Ga. App. LEXIS 111 (Ga. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

Ray, Judge.

A jury convicted Brandon Hamlin of one count of armed robbery1 and one count of aggravated assault.2 He appeals from the denial of his amended motion for new trial, contending that there was insufficient evidence to sustain his convictions, that he received ineffective assistance of counsel, and that the trial court erred in its admission of certain evidence. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

1. Hamlin argues that the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions because no fingerprint evidence linked him to the crimes. He also argues that because one of the eyewitnesses who identified him as the perpetrator was in medical distress, the identification was unreliable. These contentions are without merit.

When a criminal defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his or her conviction, the relevant question is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. The jury, not this [Cjourt, resolves conflicts in the testimony, weighs the evidence, and draws reasonable inferences from basic facts to ultimate facts.3

So viewed, the evidence shows that on April 1,2010, Brad Rogers was employed at a store specializing in vitamins and nutritional supplements. The lone customer in the store was Hamlin. At Hamlin’s request, Rogers reached onto a high shelf to retrieve a product. When Rogers turned back toward the cash register, he felt a knife pressed up against his side. Hamlin pushed Rogers against the wall and said, “[T]his is a robbery, I want all your money.” Rogers opened the cash register and gave Hamlin about $180, primarily in $1 and $5 bills. Hamlin then left through the store’s back door. An employee of a nearby beauty supply store, who was in the back alley, saw Hamlin running away. Rogers came out the door after him and told her, “I just got robbed, I just got robbed.” The police arrived quickly and called an ambulance, because they thought Rogers might be having a heart attack. His blood pressure was high, but he did not have a heart attack; the ambulance left while he remained at the store. The beauty [30]*30store clerk described Hamlin to police as a light-complexioned, heavyset black man about five feet ten inches tall, wearing sunglasses, a black wool cap, and all-black clothing. A police officer patrolling the area received a radio dispatch with this description. While driving on a road behind the vitamin store, the officer saw Hamlin, whose appearance matched the description, coming out of the woods. The officer stopped to talk with Hamlin, but Hamlin “bolted. He took off just as fast as he could run.” The officer arrested him and retrieved the following from Hamlin’s person: a folding pocketknife, a knit hat with eyeholes cut out, $180 in primarily $1 and $5 bills, a pair of gloves, sunglasses, a note that said “money now,” and a bottle of pills bearing the vitamin store’s logo. The officer drove Hamlin back to the vitamin store, where both Rogers and the beauty store employee identified him.

Hamlin contends that the evidence was insufficient to convict him because his fingerprints were not found at the scene and because the eyewitness identifications were not reliable. We disagree. Even absent fingerprint evidence, the jury’s verdict is supported by other evidence, including the eyewitness identifications, the bottle bearing the store’s logo, and the cash in the amount and denominations reported stolen.4 Further, it is well settled that “the determination of a witness’ credibility, including the accuracy of eyewitness identification, is within the exclusive province of the jury.”5 The testimony of a single witness is generally sufficient to establish a fact.6 Here, two eyewitnesses identified Hamlin as the perpetrator. The evidence was sufficient to sustain the jury’s conviction and to exclude every other reasonable hypothesis save for Hamlin’s guilt.7

2. Hamlin next asserts that his trial counsel was ineffective. To prevail on an ineffective assistance of counsel claim, a criminal defendant must show that his counsel’s performance was deficient and that the deficient performance so prejudiced him that there is a reasonable likelihood that, but for counsel’s errors, the outcome of the trial would have been different.8 “The likelihood of a different result must be substantial, not just conceivable.”9 We are not required to address both the deficient performance and prejudice prongs of the test if the defendant has made an insufficient showing on one of them, [31]*31and “a court need not determine whether counsel’s performance was deficient before examining the prejudice suffered by the defendant as a result of the alleged deficiencies.”10 Further, “we accept the trial court’s factual findings and credibility determinations unless clearly erroneous, but we independently apply the legal principles to the facts.”11

(a) Hamlin asserts that his trial counsel was deficient in failing to highlight the fact that Rogers’ testimony at trial was that he did not see a knife, in contrast to Rogers’ earlier, contradictory statement to police that the knife was five or six inches long with a dark handle. The police found a silver, folding pocket knife on Hamlin’s person when he was arrested.

At the motion for new trial hearing, Hamlin’s trial counsel testified that he made a strategic decision not to point out any conflicting information about the knife for the jury. He testified that he wanted jurors to focus on Rogers’ testimony that he did not see the knife, in hopes that they would not convict Hamlin of armed robbery with a knife.

Decisions regarding the scope of cross-examination, impeachment, and presentation of testimony are matters of trial strategy and will rarely constitute ineffective assistance.12 “This Court will not, with benefit of hindsight, second-guess defense trial strategies .... Absent a strong showing that counsel’s actions were not reasonable, we will presume that these strategies were not deficient.”13 In light of trial counsel’s testimony, Hamlin has failed to show that the decision not to highlight the discrepancies in Rogers’ testimony was unreasonable and amounted to deficient performance.

(b) Hamlin argues that his trial counsel was ineffective because he failed to elicit testimony from Hamlin’s father that he had given Hamlin $140 earlier on the day of the robbery. Hamlin contends that “had the jury known that Defendant already had $140 on his person, the fact that Defendant was found with $180 in his pocket would not have been so damaging.”

Hamlin’s father testified at the motion for new trial hearing that he told trial counsel he had given Hamlin $140. However, at the same [32]*32hearing, trial counsel testified that he spoke to Hamlin’s father one or more times prior to trial and that he did not recall ever being told that the father gave Hamlin $140. To the extent that their testimony differed, the trial court was entitled to believe the testimony of Hamlin’s trial counsel rather than that of Hamlin’s father.14 Having reviewed the record, we conclude that the trial court was authorized to rule that trial counsel was not ineffective.

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Bluebook (online)
739 S.E.2d 46, 320 Ga. App. 29, 2013 Fulton County D. Rep. 464, 2013 Ga. App. LEXIS 111, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hamlin-v-state-gactapp-2013.