Hollis v. State

484 S.E.2d 54, 225 Ga. App. 370, 97 Fulton County D. Rep. 1380, 1997 Ga. App. LEXIS 400
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedMarch 11, 1997
DocketA97A0198
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 484 S.E.2d 54 (Hollis 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
Hollis v. State, 484 S.E.2d 54, 225 Ga. App. 370, 97 Fulton County D. Rep. 1380, 1997 Ga. App. LEXIS 400 (Ga. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

Smith, Judge.

Paul James Hollis, Jr. was convicted on charges of attempted rape, OCGA §§ 16-6-1, 16-4-1; simple battery, OCGA § 16-5-23 (a) (2); and criminal trespass, OCGA § 16-7-21 (b) (3). His motion for new trial was denied, and he appeals.

1. Hollis asserts the general grounds with respect to his conviction for attempted rape. Construed to support the verdict, the evidence presented showed that Hollis approached the victim at her home while she was unloading laundry from her car, entered on the pretext of using the telephone, and ripped the telephone off the wall. He threw the victim to the floor, tore and attempted to rip off her clothes, bit her on the thigh, and kicked and beat her while repeatedly describing the explicit sexual acts, including rape, that he intended to perform on her. The victim struggled, inflicting scratch wounds on Hollis’s face, arms, and neck; she eventually escaped to a nearby convenience store. The police escorted her back to her home, where Hollis was discovered hiding in the bushes. He fled but was apprehended a short distance away, and the victim positively identified him at the scene. His face and neck were extensively scratched.

The elements of the crime of attempted rape are that the accused “(1) intended to have forcible and non-consensual carnal knowledge of the victim; and (2) took a substantial step toward committing rape; but (3) failed to consummate the rape. OCGA §§ 16-4-1, 16-6-1; McGinnis v. State, 183 Ga. App. 17, 18 (358 SE2d 269) (1987).” Lumsden v. State, 222 Ga. App. 635, 637 (4) (475 SE2d 681) (1996). Hollis suggests that we should believe his version of the encounter in preference to that given by the victim, but this Court has no authority to do so. "On appeal of a criminal conviction, the appellant is no longer indulged with the presumption of innocence, for the jury has rendered its verdict; we do not weigh the evidence or determine the [witnesses’] credibility but construe the evidence to uphold the verdict. Thus, we only determine whether the evidence is such as to enable any rational trier of fact to find the defendant guilty of the crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt.” (Citation omitted.) Clark v. State, 197 Ga. App. 318, 320 (1) (398 SE2d 377) (1990), aff’d, 261 Ga. 311 (404 SE2d 787) (1991). We find that a rational trier of fact could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant was guilty of attempted rape under the standard set forth in Jackson v. Virginia, *371 443 U. S. 307 (99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979). See Lumsden, supra; Mathis v. State, 184 Ga. App. 455, 456-457 (1) (361 SE2d 856) (1987); Helton v. State, 166 Ga. App. 662, 663 (1) (305 SE2d 592) (1983).

2. In his second enumeration, Hollis contends the trial court improperly excluded evidence of a charge of simple battery against the victim that was pending at the time of trial. We disagree. This evidence could not be used to impeach the victim with proof of her bad character because evidence of specific acts is not the proper method of doing so. Kennard v. State, 180 Ga. App. 522 (1) (349 SE2d 470) (1986). While a witness may be impeached by showing conviction of a crime involving moral turpitude, this evidence was improper for three reasons: Hollis failed to present record evidence rather than testimony, simple battery is not a crime involving moral turpitude, and the evidence here showed merely an arrest. “Even competent proof of an offense not involving moral turpitude, or incompetent proof of an offense involving moral turpitude, such as a mere indictment or a charge or an arrest or a trial and acquittal, are not legal methods of impeachment.” (Citations and punctuation omitted.) Syfrett v. State, 210 Ga. App. 185, 187 (4) (435 SE2d 470) (1993).

Chandler v. State, 261 Ga. 402, 407 (3) (b) (405 SE2d 669) (1991), though not cited by Hollis, allows the admission of evidence of violent acts by the victim against third persons under certain limited circumstances. Such evidence, however, is admissible only if, among other requirements, the defendant claims justification as a defense. Id.; see OCGA § 16-3-20. Hollis testified at trial, but he never made any claim amounting to justification. He did not contend, for example, that the victim attacked him or that he struck and kicked her as the result of provocation. He claimed instead that they met at a gas station and drank beer together, she invited him in to her home to drink more beer, then “started screaming on [him]” and falsely accused him of trying to rape her. He denied having struck her, and he contended the scratches and marks on his body were from his work as a tree surgeon or from running into a barbed wire fence rather than injuries inflicted by the victim. Under these circumstances, Hollis cannot rely upon the rule established in Chandler.

3. Finally, Hollis alleges ineffective assistance of trial counsel in several respects. “In analyzing a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, we note at the outset that a trial court’s finding that a defendant has not been denied effective assistance of trial counsel will be affirmed unless clearly erroneous. [A defendant] must overcome the strong presumption that defense counsel’s conduct falls within the broad range of reasonable professional conduct. To establish ineffective assistance of counsel, a'defendant must show that his counsel’s performance was deficient and that the deficient performance prejudiced his defense. The test is whether there is a reason *372 able probability the jury would have reached a different verdict, absent the error of counsel.” (Citations and punctuation omitted.) Williams v. State, 218 Ga. App. 785, 788 (3) (463 SE2d 372) (1995).

Hollis first complains that his trial counsel failed to object to a witness’s testimony regarding a statement made by Hollis. During his account of the arrest, the arresting officer volunteered that Hollis attributed the scratches on his body to a fight with another woman. This statement was not previously disclosed to Hollis’s counsel under the reciprocal criminal discovery provisions of OCGA § 17-16-4 (a) (1). Assuming without deciding that this testimony violated the discovery statute, the trial court’s decision that counsel’s failure to object did not affect the jury’s verdict is not clearly erroneous. As noted above, Hollis attributed scratches at one point to his work as a tree surgeon and at another point to a barbed wire fence. Hollis’s brother, however, while testifying on Hollis’s behalf, stated that he had no marks on his face or neck before the incident.

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Bluebook (online)
484 S.E.2d 54, 225 Ga. App. 370, 97 Fulton County D. Rep. 1380, 1997 Ga. App. LEXIS 400, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hollis-v-state-gactapp-1997.