Howard v. State
This text of 842 S.E.2d 12 (Howard 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.
Opinion
308 Ga. 574 FINAL COPY
S20A0819. HOWARD v. THE STATE.
BLACKWELL, Justice.
Kenneth Howard was tried by a Richmond County jury and
convicted of the murder of Emily Ann Smith Newbegin. Howard
appeals, contending that the evidence is legally insufficient to
sustain his conviction. Upon our review of the record and briefs, we
see no merit in this claim of error, and we affirm.1
Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence
shows that Howard, Newbegin, and another man were smoking
crack cocaine at a Richmond County mobile home park on the
1 Newbegin was killed in October 2014. A Richmond County grand jury
indicted Howard in January 2015, and the grand jury returned a superseding indictment in February 2016, charging Howard with murder with malice aforethought and felony murder predicated on aggravated assault. Howard was tried later in February 2016, and the jury found him guilty on both counts. The trial court sentenced Howard to imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole for malice murder, and the verdict as to felony murder was vacated by operation of law. Howard filed a motion for new trial in March 2016, and he filed an amended motion for new trial in November 2019. The trial court denied the motion later that month. Howard timely appealed, and this case was docketed to the April 2020 term and submitted for decision on the briefs. evening of October 19, 2014. When Newbegin said that she wanted
to get some more cocaine, Howard called Marcus Walker, a resident
of the mobile home park. Howard told Walker that, if Walker bought
cocaine for Newbegin, she would have sex with him. Howard and
Newbegin met Walker, and after they procured a three-pack of
condoms in gold wrappers, they all drove to Walker’s mobile home.
Howard waited outside, and Newbegin and Walker went inside and
had sex. When they finished, Walker gave one of the gold-wrapped
condoms to Howard, and Walker, Howard, and Newbegin drove to a
house, where they bought cocaine for Newbegin. Walker then
dropped off Howard and Newbegin at Howard’s mobile home.
Early on the afternoon of October 20, one of Howard’s
neighbors heard water running in a nearby mobile home that had
been unoccupied for six months, and the neighbor observed water
running out of the mobile home. Later that same afternoon, another
neighbor saw Howard come out of the unoccupied mobile home with
a black trashcan, shut the door, and walk away. That evening, the
owner of the unoccupied mobile home arrived and found the front door unlocked, opened the door and saw blood inside, and called law
enforcement.
When officers arrived at the unoccupied mobile home, they
observed blood on the walls, ceiling, and furniture. Bloody drag
marks led officers to a bathroom, where they found Newbegin’s body
submerged in a bathtub full of water. She had sustained multiple
blunt force and puncture wounds. Also in the unoccupied mobile
home, officers recovered a glass pipe used to smoke cocaine and a
gold condom wrapper. In addition, they noted a bloody shoeprint on
the floor.
After obtaining a search warrant, the officers searched
Howard’s mobile home and recovered a jacket and an axe, both of
which tested positive for blood. They also found a pair of bloody
shoes in a size that fit Howard, and the sole of one of the shoes
matched the bloody shoeprint at the unoccupied mobile home.
Subsequent DNA testing matched the blood on the jacket, axe blade,
and shoes to Newbegin.
The medical examiner performed an autopsy and observed that Newbegin had sustained multiple blunt force injuries and lacerated
“chop” injuries (akin to those inflicted by a cleaver or an axe) to her
head, which caused severe injuries to her brain. The medical
examiner concluded that the injuries to her head would have made
it difficult for Newbegin to balance, walk, or even crawl and would
have been “predominately incapacitating,” though they would not
have killed her instantly. The medical examiner also noted several
other blunt force injuries to various other parts of her body. He
concluded that Newbegin died from blunt force trauma and
drowning due to assault.
Investigators interviewed Howard on October 20. At first, he
claimed that he went to the unoccupied mobile home simply to tell
its owner that the water was running, but he found that the door
was locked, so he returned home without entering the premises. Two
days later, Howard spoke with investigators again and told them
that he had taken Newbegin to the unoccupied mobile home on the
night of October 19. He claimed that she was agitated from smoking
cocaine, and that at some point during their time together, he felt something behind him and heard something click “like a razor slide.”
He turned around, he said, and “it just went haywire.” He fought
with Newbegin, during which time he struck her with an axe “three
or four times.” Howard explained that he then dragged her to the
bathroom and told her to “clean herself up,” ran water over her face
and cut the water off, and then left and went to his own mobile home.
Howard argues that the State failed to prove his guilt beyond
a reasonable doubt. In particular, he argues that the State failed to
show that he had the requisite intent for malice murder because, he
says, the evidence shows instead that Newbegin’s death was
unintentional and the result of provocation. We disagree. A
conviction for malice murder does not require a showing that the
murder was premeditated or based on a preconceived intent to kill,
insofar as “malice aforethought can be formed instantly.” Kemp v.
State, 303 Ga. 385, 388 (1) (a) (810 SE2d 515) (2018) (citation and
punctuation omitted). Moreover, the issue of “[w]hether a killing is
intentional and malicious is for the jury to determine from all the
facts and circumstances.” Id. (citation and punctuation omitted). The evidence shows that Howard was with Newbegin on the
night of her death, and forensic evidence indicated that she was
assaulted multiple times with a blunt force object, dragged to the
bathtub, and drowned. Furthermore, an eyewitness testified that he
saw Howard leave the crime scene the next day. Moreover, blood
found on the jacket, axe, and shoes in Howard’s mobile home
matched Newbegin, and the medical examiner confirmed that
Newbegin had sustained multiple chopping injuries to her head,
likely from an axe. Finally, in his second interview with law
enforcement officers, Howard admitted to striking Newbegin
multiple times with the axe. Although he claimed in that interview
that his actions were provoked, the jury was free to disbelieve him
and to instead determine that he murdered Newbegin with malice
aforethought. The State presented sufficient evidence from which
the jury could infer malice.
The evidence presented at trial was sufficient as a matter of
constitutional due process to authorize a rational jury to find beyond
a reasonable doubt that Howard was guilty of the crime of malice murder. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307, 319 (III) (B) (99 SCt
2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979).
Judgment affirmed. All the Justices concur.
DECIDED APRIL 20, 2020. Murder. Richmond Superior Court. Before Judge Craig. Debra K. Jefferson, for appellant.
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