Kalone Antoine Wilson v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedJanuary 23, 2024
DocketA23A1765
StatusPublished

This text of Kalone Antoine Wilson v. State (Kalone Antoine Wilson 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
Kalone Antoine Wilson v. State, (Ga. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

FOURTH DIVISION DILLARD, P. J., RICKMAN and PIPKIN, JJ.

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

January 23, 2024

In the Court of Appeals of Georgia A23A1765. WILSON v. THE STATE.

DILLARD, Presiding Judge.

Following trial, a jury convicted Kalone Wilson on one count each of aggravated

assault, family violence battery, and criminal trespass. Wilson now appeals his

convictions and the denial of his motion for new trial, arguing the trial court erred in

admitting expert testimony the State did not timely produce during discovery and

qualifying that same expert under an incorrect legal standard. For the following

reasons, we affirm. Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict,1 the record shows that

Carrie Walden and Wilson began a romantic relationship in 2014, and they moved in

together not long after that relationship started. But at some point, Wilson became

abusive towards Walden, including physically; and in 2019, she ended their

relationship and the couple stopped living together. Despite their breakup, Wilson

continued contacting Walden and frequently threatened her during those

communications.

In the late afternoon on October 31, 2019, Walden—who drove a mini-van taxi

for employment—was taking her two-year-old daughter home to get ready for trick-or-

treating, when she stopped at a local gas station to refuel her vehicle. Immediately

after parking next to one of the gasoline pumps, Walden saw Wilson get out of his car,

approach her mini-van, and enter through the passenger-side door. Surprised and

fearful, Walden nervously smiled at Wilson, prompting him to ask if she thought

“something was funny.” But before she could answer, Wilson grabbed Walden’s cell

1 See, e.g., Libri v. State, 346 Ga. App. 420, 421 (816 SE2d 417) (2018) (noting when a conviction is appealed, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, and the appellant no longer enjoys a presumption of innocence). 2 phone and threw it out the window. Wilson then placed his hands around Walden’s

neck and began strangling her.

Struggling to get away, Walden climbed over the seat into the back of the mini-

van, but Wilson climbed over as well, began strangling her again, and bit her on the

face. At that point, Walden momentarily blacked out; but when she regained

consciousness, she managed to open the mini-van’s rear door and exit the vehicle.

And as she ran toward the gas station convenience store, Walden briefly paused and

asked a woman in another vehicle to help her. But with Wilson in pursuit, Walden

continued her flight into the store, pleading for help as she did so. Wilson followed

and initially threatened others in the store not to intervene; but when one of the

store’s employees ordered him to leave, he complied. Meanwhile, another store

employee—and the woman Walden sought help from in the parking lot—called the

police, who arrived a few minutes later.

Thereafter, the State charged Wilson, via indictment, with aggravated assault,

family violence battery, and criminal trespass. The case then proceeded to trial, during

which the State presented the foregoing evidence. The State also called a forensic

sexual assault nurse examiner to testify as an expert on the subjects of domestic

3 violence, trauma, and the physical effects of strangulation. And after the nurse

examiner testified as to her background and experience, the trial court ruled that she

could testify as an expert. The jury then found Wilson guilty on all counts at the

conclusion of the trial. Subsequently, Wilson filed a motion for new trial, which the

trial court denied after a hearing. This appeal follows.

1. Wilson first contends the trial court erred in admitting the nurse examiner’s

expert opinions regarding the effects of strangulation into evidence, which were based

on studies and other information the State did not disclose during discovery (as

required by statute). We disagree.

OCGA § 17-16-4 (a) (4), in part, provides:

The prosecuting attorney shall, no later than ten days prior to trial, or as otherwise ordered by the court, permit the defendant at a time agreed to by the parties or ordered by the court to inspect and copy or photograph a report of any physical or mental examinations and of scientific tests or experiments, including a summary of the basis for the expert opinion rendered in the report, or copies thereof, if the state intends to introduce in evidence in its case-in-chief or in rebuttal the results of the physical or mental examination or scientific test or experiment. If the report is oral or partially oral, the prosecuting attorney shall reduce all relevant and material oral portions of such report to writing and shall serve opposing counsel with such portions no later than ten days prior to trial.

4 To ensure compliance with this statute, OCGA § 17-16-6 directs that

[i]f at any time during the course of the proceedings it is brought to the attention of the court that the state has failed to comply with the requirements of this article, the court may order the state to permit the discovery or inspection, interview of the witness, grant a continuance, or, upon a showing of prejudice and bad faith, prohibit the state from introducing the evidence not disclosed or presenting the witness not disclosed, or may enter such other order as it deems just under the circumstances.

And importantly, this Court reviews a trial court’s ruling in this regard for an “abuse

of discretion.”2

In this case, nearly two weeks before trial, the State’s prosecutor filed a witness

list, which included the nurse examiner. During trial, after she was qualified as an

expert and asked a few general questions about examining individuals who had

suffered trauma, the State asked the nurse examiner if trauma could affect a victim’s

recall. But before she responded, Wilson’s counsel objected and requested a bench

conference outside the jury’s presence. Once the jury left the courtroom, Wilson’s

2 Morris v. State, 341 Ga. App. 568, 575 (3) (802 SE2d 13) (2017); see Williams v. State, 302 Ga. 474, 478 (II) (807 SE2d 350) (2015) (explaining appellate courts review a trial court’s evidentiary rulings based on alleged criminal discovery violations under an abuse-of-discretion standard of review). 5 counsel complained that, although a few days before trial the State disclosed that the

nurse examiner would be referring to an anatomical diagram of the neck in her

testimony about strangulation, she was now, unfairly, going to offer opinions on

hypothetical questions that should have been disclosed much earlier in the

proceedings.

The State’s prosecutor responded that the nurse examiner had not done any

experiments or produced any reports, oral or written, that would fall under OCGA §

17-16-4 (a) (4). In reply, Wilson’s counsel claimed the defense was unprepared for the

nurse examiner to offer medical opinions about how strangulation occurs, seemingly

implying that she was not qualified to provide such opinions. But the trial court noted

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Bluebook (online)
Kalone Antoine Wilson v. State, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kalone-antoine-wilson-v-state-gactapp-2024.