Joshua Davis v. State

Court of Appeals of Georgia·Decided March 16, 2021·No. A20A1727·Published

Opinion

FIRST DIVISION

BARNES, P. J.,

GOBEIL and PIPKIN, JJ.

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March 10, 2021

In the Court of Appeals of Georgia A20A1727. DAVIS v. THE STATE.

PIPKIN, Judge.

Appellant Joshua Davis was convicted by a jury of two counts of vehicular homicide, four counts of serious injury by vehicle, driving under the influence, and reckless driving. He appeals following the denial of his motion for new trial, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to convict him, that the trial court erred by admitting evidence of his refusal to submit to blood or urine testing under Georgia’s implied consent statute, that the trial court erred by failing to grant a mistrial when the State made allegedly improper closing arguments, and that he was denied effective assistance of counsel at trial. As set forth below, we now affirm.

Construed to support the jury’s verdict,1 the evidence shows that on May 7, 2016, Scott Blake was traveling westbound on McGinnis Ferry Road when he observed an orange and black truck, which, as it was later determined, was being driven by Davis, weave in and out of its lane approximately three to five times. Blake testified that he did not want to be behind the truck because of the erratic driving, so he passed the truck but continued to observe it in his rear view mirror.

Blake turned right onto Old Atlanta Road and observed Davis’ truck, which was directly behind him, make the same turn. Blake saw Davis’ truck weave outside of its lane of travel a “few” more times, until they reached a point where the road curves “pretty severely” to the right, at which time Davis continued straight into the oncoming lane of travel. Davis’ truck then collided “head on” with a “work” truck, which was pulling a Bobcat trailer.”2 Several occupants of the work truck testified that they saw Davis’ truck coming toward them in their lane and that their driver, Aldolfo Mendoza, braked and attempted to take evasive action but that they could not get out of the path of the oncoming vehicle because of a guard rail. Blake said he

1 Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (99 SCt 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979).

2 The collision occurred in Forsyth County.

heard Mendoza apply his brakes and saw him steer toward the guardrail, but that it did not appear that Davis applied his brakes or took any action to avoid the collision.

Blake stopped his vehicle and, after observing several people trying to assist the occupants of the work truck, checked on Davis. According to Blake, he knocked on the window to try and get Davis’ attention, but Davis did not respond, although Blake could see that he was conscious. Blake attempted to enter the truck, but the driver’s side door was jammed shut and the passenger’s side door was locked. Concerned because the truck was leaking fluids and smoking, Blake broke out the passenger’s side window and opened the door. Blake observed that Davis was bleeding a “little bit” from his lip and appeared to be dazed and “out of it.” Blake said the first thing that Davis did when he was out of the vehicle was to ask about the location of his cell phone, and Blake told him it was still in the truck. Davis recovered his cell phone, and then he asked Blake what happened. Blake told Davis what he saw, and Davis told Blake that he had looked down at his phone and the next thing he knew he was on the side of the road. Blake encouraged Davis to sit along the side of the road, but Davis kept trying to go back in his vehicle and even after law enforcement arrived, Davis had to be “repeatedly retrieved” from his vehicle. Blake

also testified that Davis did not complain about any injuries and that the only injury he observed was a small trickle of blood on Davis’ lip.

Another witness – O’Neil Foster – stopped to render aid. He testified that when he first saw Davis in his truck he appeared to be unconscious, but that after Davis was taken out of the vehicle, he started smoking a cigarette and then he walked around his truck. He testified that Davis appeared to be “nonchalant,” and that he did not observe Davis go toward the work truck or attempt to render aid.

Deputy John Christopher Hiott with the Forsyth County Sheriff’s office was the first law enforcement officer to arrive on the scene. Deputy Hiott first approached the work truck and ascertained that everyone in the vehicle appeared to have suffered injuries and that Mendoza was entrapped and appeared to be severely injured. Deputy Hiott then approached Davis, who was walking around and seemed “dazed and confused,” although when asked, he told Deputy Hiott he was fine. Davis provided his driver’s license, but did not comply with Deputy Hiott’s repeated requests that he wait outside of his vehicle. Deputy Hiott testified that it appeared that Davis was trying to find something in his truck, looking under the seat, behind the seat, and in the center console; he also observed Davis move objects around in the back of the truck. While Davis initially appeared to be disoriented and confused, by the time

Davis was questioned by emergency medical services workers, he did not appear to have any immediately detectable cognitive impairment. Davis was asked several times if he wanted medical treatment, but he declined.

Mendoza was transported to Grady Memorial Hospital where he died from his injuries several weeks later. The passengers of the work truck were transported to another hospital, and two of the passengers were determined to have suffered serious injuries.3 Due to the injuries and severity of the accident, Deputy Hiott contacted the traffic specialist unit, and Deputy Andrew Ives of the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office was assigned to investigate the collision. Based on his initial walk-through of the crash cite, Deputy Ives concluded that Davis’ vehicle had crossed over the centerline.

After completing his walk through and speaking with Deputy Hiott, Deputy Ives approached Davis. He said that he noticed that Davis had some dried blood on his lip, that he had scratches on his arm, an abrasion on his knee, and an abrasion on his left shoulder and neck consistent with seat belt use. Deputy Ives testified that

3 Mendoza is the named victim in Counts 1 and 2 of the indictment charging Davis with vehicular homicide. The two passengers who suffered significant injuries are named as the victims in Counts 3 through 6 of the indictment charging Davis with serious injury by vehicle.

based on Davis’ speech – which he said seemed “somewhat thick and a little slow” – Davis’ “unusually” constricted pupils, and the manner in which the crash occurred, Deputy Ives requested another deputy to conduct a DUI investigation while he continued to investigate the crash.

Davis told Deputy Ives that he had reached down to grab his cell phone shortly before the collision, and prior to his arrest, Davis gave law enforcement permission to look at his phone. When Deputy Ives examined the phone, he noticed that it appeared that call and text data from approximately 12:30 p. m. to 4:00 p. m. had been erased from Davis’ phone. When asked about the missing information, Davis told police that his fiancee had deleted it the day before. Deputy Ives asked Davis how his fiancee could have deleted information the day before it occurred, and Davis did not have an answer. The phone was taken into evidence and a more extensive analysis was consistent with Davis having deleted information from his phone, which was also confirmed by an examination of Davis’ cell phone records.

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