Jones v. State

827 S.E.2d 254, 305 Ga. 653
Supreme Court of Georgia·Decided April 15, 2019·No. S19A0392·Published·Cited by 10 cases

Opinion

Peterson, Justice.

**653Quinton Jones appeals his conviction for malice murder based on the shooting death *255of Steven Johnson.1 He argues that the trial court erred by refusing to admit the first offender plea of a key State **654witness and by overruling his objection to the admission of his own prior conviction. Because the trial court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to allow Jones to cross-examine the prosecution witness about her first offender plea, and because any error in the admission of Jones's prior conviction was harmless, we affirm.

The evidence introduced at trial taken in the light most favorable to the verdicts shows as follows. On August 4, 2013, Lechelle Moore was at her mother's home in Bibb County attending a wake for Moore's grandfather. Johnson, the father of one of Moore's children, was also in attendance. Moore and Jones lived together at the time, but he was not welcome in Moore's mother's home. Jones nonetheless came by the home multiple times that day.

At one point during the wake, Jones and Moore argued in the kitchen. Johnson walked into the kitchen and told Jones, "let's take this outside[,]" suggesting that Moore's mother would "not want to hear that." Jones began to walk outside, with Johnson following. Before Johnson could exit the house, Jones turned and shot Johnson repeatedly. Johnson died as a result of a gunshot wound to the head.

Jones testified at trial that Johnson shot first and he merely returned fire in self-defense. But witnesses, including Moore and her mother, denied seeing Johnson with a gun that night or noticing Johnson threaten Jones. Police did not find a gun near Johnson's body. All bullets and cartridge cases recovered from the scene and all bullets recovered from Johnson's body were determined to have been fired from the same type of gun, the bullets being fired from one particular gun.2

1. Although Jones does not 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 crime for which he was convicted. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).

**6552. Jones argues that the trial court erred by denying him the opportunity to cross-examine Moore regarding her guilty plea to forgery under the First Offender Act. We disagree.

In seeking to introduce evidence of Moore's first offender plea, Jones argued that the evidence was admissible both to impeach Moore's credibility generally and to show that she had a bias in favor of the State because she ultimately was discharged under the First Offender Act. At a pre-trial hearing, the trial court ruled that the defense could not use Moore's first offender plea because she had successfully completed the first offender program. We review a trial court's evidentiary rulings for abuse of discretion. See Smith v. State, 292 Ga. 620, 624 (5), 740 S.E.2d 158 (2013). We find no abuse of discretion in the trial court's ruling to exclude evidence that Moore pleaded guilty to forgery.

Jones now acknowledges on appeal that Moore's first offender plea could not be used for the purpose of general impeachment. See OCGA § 24-6-609 (c) ("Evidence of a final adjudication of guilt and subsequent discharge under any first offender statute shall not be used to impeach any witness[.]"). But he contends that he should have been able to *256cross-examine Moore regarding any bias that she may have had in favor of the State as a result of her discharge under the First Offender Act.

We have recognized that the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article I, Section I, Paragraph XIV of the Georgia Constitution sometimes may require that a defendant be permitted to use a first offender plea for certain purposes, including to show the witness's bias or motive or to contradict the witness's testimony. See Matthews v. State, 268 Ga. 798, 802-803 (4), 493 S.E.2d 136 (1997). Here, Moore had completed her probation and been discharged without an adjudication of guilt. To the extent that a first offender plea could ever be probative of bias in favor of the State - even post-discharge,3 Jones did not make the requisite showing before the trial court here. In arguing before the trial court that he should be able to cross-examine Moore with her first offender plea for the purpose of showing bias, Jones made no proffer explaining a relationship between Moore's prior discharge and her testimony in his case.4 Rather, he averred only that the prior **656case would "show a bias in favor of the State because the first offender has been discharged." This was insufficient, and the trial court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to allow Jones to use the first offender plea in cross-examination.

3. Jones also argues that the trial court erred by admitting evidence of his prior felony conviction. We conclude that any error in this respect was harmless.

During its cross-examination of Jones, the State sought to ask him about his inability to possess a gun lawfully based on his 2003 felony conviction for making false statements to police, arguing that the conviction was admissible under OCGA § 24-6-609 (a).5 The defense objected on the basis that this would impermissibly put Jones's character into question.

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Jones v. State, 827 S.E.2d 254, 305 Ga. 653 (Ga. 2019).

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