King v. State

818 S.E.2d 612, 304 Ga. 349
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedAugust 27, 2018
DocketS18A0824
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 818 S.E.2d 612 (King 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.

Bluebook
King v. State, 818 S.E.2d 612, 304 Ga. 349 (Ga. 2018).

Opinion

Blackwell, Justice.

**349Albert Lee King was tried by a Twiggs County jury and convicted of murder and aggravated assault in connection with the death of Lelia Mae Huston. King appeals, asserting that the evidence is insufficient to sustain his conviction for aggravated assault and that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel. We affirm.1

1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdicts, the evidence shows that Huston and King were neighbors. On September 10, 2003, Huston's husband came home from work and found her dead, lying in the yard and covered by a blanket. A forensic pathologist conducted an autopsy and determined that Huston died as a result of asphyxiation by strangulation. The pathologist also determined that Huston had sustained two head injuries -one near the forehead, and the other *614to the back of her head-consistent with blunt force trauma. At trial, the pathologist explained: "[T]here had been an impact against the scalp which has caused bleeding beneath the scalp itself.... [E]ither the head has been impacted against something or something has been impacted against the head to cause that bleeding." About the forehead injury, the pathologist opined that the impact causing that injury would not have killed Huston, but it "was certainly hard enough that ... she might have been stunned." The pathologist could not say whether that injury accelerated her death, but, he said, "It's certainly possible that the blunt force injuries may have stunned this individual. Might not have knocked them out, necessarily, but a lick to the head like that, it certainly would cause you to-it would be uncomfortable and may indeed have caused a mild degree of concussion." **350Investigators interviewed King, who at first denied knowing anything about Huston's death. In a subsequent interview, however, King gave a statement in which he admitted that he killed Huston.2 In his statement, King explained that he had gone to Huston's house on the morning of September 10 and asked if he could use her bathroom. Huston let King into the house, and as he walked to the bathroom, he observed her purse on a counter. When he came back out of the bathroom, he noticed that the purse was gone. Huston emerged from her bedroom, accused King of stealing $1,300 from her purse, and proceeded to pat down King's pockets. King denied that he had seen or taken any money, and he pushed her away "in a forceful manner," causing her to fall back and strike her head against some object. Huston stood up, demanded her money, and threatened to call the police. King then punched Huston in the jaw. At that point, Huston ran out the back door, and King gave chase. Huston fell as she ran into the yard, King jumped on top of her, and they began to struggle. King eventually used his "do rag" and right arm to choke Huston until she stopped moving. He then covered her body with a blanket and returned home.

King does not dispute that the evidence is sufficient to sustain his conviction for murder by strangulation, but he contends that the State failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed an aggravated assault by striking Huston about the head with a "deadly weapon or ... any object, device, or instrument which, when used offensively, is likely to or actually does result in serious bodily injury." OCGA § 16-5-21 (a) (2).3 This contention is without merit. The testimony of the forensic pathologist establishes that Huston sustained two head injuries as a result of blunt force trauma. That the State was unable to definitively identify the object or instrument that caused the head injuries does not render the evidence insufficient to prove aggravated assault. See Allen v. State, 297 Ga. 702, 703 (2), 777 S.E.2d 680 (2015) (the existence of a deadly weapon may be shown by circumstantial evidence). See also State v. Wyatt, 295 Ga. 257, 262 (2) (a), 759 S.E.2d 500 (2014) (an indictment for aggravated assault "is not required to identify the exact weapon or object used if the circumstances of the case do not allow such specificity"); Talley v. State, 209 Ga. App. 79, 80 (3), 432 S.E.2d 667 (1993) ("It is clear that even in the absence of the production or verbal **351description of the weapon used, evidence as to the nature, kind and location of the wounds inflicted by the assailant is sufficient to allow the jury to infer the character of the weapon." (Citation and punctuation omitted) ). Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdicts, the evidence presented at trial was sufficient to authorize a rational jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that King was guilty of murder and aggravated assault. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319 (III) (B), 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).

2. King also contends that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel when his trial counsel failed to request a jury charge on justification. King was represented *615by new counsel in connection with his motion for new trial, and in that motion, he claimed that his trial counsel was ineffective in several respects, but he did not assert any claim that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to seek a charge on justification. He cannot, therefore, now pursue a claim on direct appeal that trial counsel was ineffective with respect to a charge on justification. See Wilson v. State, 286 Ga. 141, 144 (4), 686 S.E.2d 104

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
818 S.E.2d 612, 304 Ga. 349, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/king-v-state-ga-2018.