Joseph Baughns v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: February 4, 2025
• Docket: A24A1792
• Status: Published

Opinion

FIFTH DIVISION MERCIER, C. J., MCFADDEN, P. J., and RICKMAN, P. J.

NOTICE: Motions for reconsideration must be physically received in our clerk’s office within ten days of the date of decision to be deemed timely filed. https://www.gaappeals.us/rules

February 4, 2025

In the Court of Appeals of Georgia A24A1792. BAUGHNS v. THE STATE.

MCFADDEN, Presiding Judge.

After a jury trial on a multi-count indictment, Joseph Baughns was convicted

of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and acquitted of all other charges. He

appeals, challenging the trial court’s denial of his motion to bifurcate that firearm

offense and a felony murder charge predicated on it from the other counts in the

indictment. Because Baughns has failed to show that the trial court erred in denying

the motion to bifurcate or that he was harmed by the ruling, we affirm.

1. Facts and procedural posture

Baughns was indicted on multiple charges arising from his fatal shooting of the

alleged victim. The indictment included one count of malice murder; two counts of felony murder, with one count predicated on possession of a firearm by a convicted

felon and the other count predicated on aggravated assault; one count of possession

of a firearm by a convicted felon based on Baughns’ prior felony drug conviction; one

count of aggravated assault; and three counts of possession of a firearm during the

commission of a felony. Baughns filed a pre-trial motion to bifurcate the count for

felony murder based on possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and the count for

possession of a firearm by a convicted felon from the other counts in the indictment.

The trial court denied the motion to bifurcate, and the case proceeded to a jury trial.

The jury found Baughns guilty of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, but

found him not guilty on all other counts. The trial court imposed a seven-year

sentence and denied Baughns’ motion for new trial. This appeal followed.

2. Denial of motion to bifurcate

Baughns contends that his conviction must be reversed because the trial court

committed harmful error in denying his motion to bifurcate the felony-murder and

felon-in-possession-of-a-firearm counts from the rest of the counts in the indictment.

We disagree.

2 As our Supreme Court has held, “a trial court does not err in denying a motion

to bifurcate a felony-murder count from the rest of a defendant’s trial, where the

felony-murder count is predicated on a felon-in-possession-of-a-firearm charge and

the defendant is charged with both felony murder and malice murder of the same

victim.” Charles v. State, 315 Ga. 651, 659 (4) (884 SE2d 363) (2023). Likewise, “a

trial court does not err in refusing to bifurcate the charge of possession of a firearm by

a [convicted felon] where, as here, the possession charge was an underlying felony to

a murder count of the indictment.” Tabor v. State, 315 Ga. 240, 247 (2) (a) (882 SE2d

329) (2022) (citation and punctuation omitted). See also Hayes v. State, ___ Ga. ___

(5) (Case No. S24A1354, decided December 10, 2024) (“when the felon-in-possession

count serves as the predicate offense for felony murder, the trial court should deny the

motion to bifurcate”) (citation and punctuation omitted); Poole v. State, 291 Ga. 848,

850 (2) (734 SE2d 1) (2012) (“a motion to bifurcate should be denied where the count

charging possession of a firearm by a convicted felon might serve as the underlying

felony supporting a felony murder conviction”).

In the instant case, because “one of the counts of felony murder was based on

the felon-in-possession firearm charge (and the indictment also charged malice

3 murder), the trial court did not err when it denied [Baughns’] motion to bifurcate the

trial.” Brown v. State, 295 Ga. 804, 807-808 (3) (764 SE2d 376) (2014). Moreover,

given that the jury acquitted Baughns on all counts other than the felon-in-possession-

of-a-firearm count, “it is apparent that the jury did not allow the evidence of [his]

prior felony [drug conviction] to affect their consideration of the issues, [so] any error

in refusing to bifurcate the proceedings was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Dominick v. State, 209 Ga. App. 319, 321 (3) (433 SE2d 405) (1993). See also Hayes,

supra at ___ (5) (“pretermitting whether the trial court erred in denying Appellant’s

motion to bifurcate, we conclude any such error was harmless”).

Judgment affirmed. Mercier, C. J., and Rickman, P. J., concur.