Mathis v. State

750 S.E.2d 308, 293 Ga. 837, 2013 Fulton County D. Rep. 3210, 2013 WL 5708054, 2013 Ga. LEXIS 872
Supreme Court of Georgia·Decided October 21, 2013·No. S13A1036·Published·Cited by 14 cases

Opinion

Thompson, Chief Justice.

Appellant Jessie Ben Mathis was convicted of felony murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault, and possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime in connection with the shooting death of Souphoth Thammavongsa.1 Appellant’s motion for new trial was denied, and he now appeals that decision and his conviction. We find no reversible error and affirm.

Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the jury was authorized to find that on October 19,2008, appellant and co-conspirators [838] Gary Kilgore and Dexter Armstrong entered the Thai Video store shouting “ATF, get on the floor!” Store customers were forced to the floor, and the owner of the store was shot and killed. The assailants, including appellant, then forced the owner’s son to the back of the store where they showed him the bloody gun and his father’s body and threatened to shoot him if he did not produce additional money. When this proved unsuccessful, appellant and the others threatened and robbed the customers before leaving the store.

Shortly after fleeing the crime scene, Armstrong met with his then-girlfriend, Theresa Anderson, gave her close to $1,300, which he asked her to hold for him,2 and told her that he, Kilgore and appellant had robbed the video store and that Kilgore had shot and killed the owner. Anderson later told a friend about this exchange, and the friend called police. Relying on this tip, police arrested appellant and the others, and detained Anderson for questioning. Anderson subsequently disclosed Armstrong’s statements, including those implicating appellant and Kilgore. In addition, two witnesses identified appellant as one of the assailants through photographic lineups and made in-court identifications of him at trial.

1. We conclude the evidence was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find appellant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crime of felony murder and the other crimes for which he was convicted. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307 (99 SCt 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979).

2. Appellant claims the trial court erred in failing to question or excuse an allegedly sleeping juror. During presentation of the State’s case, appellant’s counsel expressed concern to the court that one of the jurors appeared to be sleeping. In response, the court instituted a “buddy system” between jurors to have them help each other stay awake. Later in the trial, counsel revisited the issue, asking that the juror in question be replaced with an alternate. The State objected, arguing there was no proof that the juror had been sleeping, and the trial court denied appellant’s motion. However, prior to jury deliberations at the end of trial, the court gave appellant’s counsel the opportunity to renew her motion to replace the juror, and she declined. As counsel made no contemporaneous request for the trial court to conduct an inquiry and later declined to move to excuse the juror, we find this issue has been waived. See Smith v. State, 277 Ga. 213, 216 (586 SE2d 639) (2003); Joyner v. State, 208 Ga. 435, 438 (67 SE2d 221) (1951).

[839] Even assuming this issue is properly before the Court, we find no error. Pursuant to OCGA § 15-12-172,3 a trial court is statutorily vested with the discretion to replace a juror with an alternate at any time during the proceedings as long as the court has a sound legal basis to do so. Smith v. State, 284 Ga. 17, 22 (663 SE2d 142) (2008); Brooks v. State, 281 Ga. 14, 18 (635 SE2d 723) (2006). Further, this court will not interfere with a trial court’s decision regarding removal of a juror from a panel absent an abuse of that court’s discretion. Chance v. State, 291 Ga. 241, 243 (728 SE2d 635) (2012); Pinkins v. State, 243 Ga. App. 737, 740 (3) (534 SE3d 192) (2000). When confronted with a situation involving a juror who appears to have fallen asleep during trial, counsel has a duty to bring the matter to the attention of the trial court, and the trial court has a duty to awaken the juror. Smith, supra; Foster v. State, 255 Ga. 425 (2) (339 SE2d 256) (1986). Here, the trial court took prompt action when the allegedly sleeping juror was brought to its attention by reminding all of the jurors to stay awake and instructing them to help each other stay awake.

Appellant argues that in addition to the actions taken, the trial court was required to conduct an inquiry to determine whether the juror had, in fact, been sleeping or was incapacitated. We disagree. Given that the only juror irregularity alleged in this case consisted of a relatively brief, single act of dozing, we find no abuse of discretion on the part of the trial court in concluding that its immediate remedial actions were sufficient. See Smith, supra; Williams v. State, 190 Ga. App. 361, 362 (378 SE2d 886) (1989). See also Lamons v. State, 255 Ga. 511, 512 (340 SE2d 183) (1986) (some irregularities in juror conduct are inconsequential). Compare Gibson v. State, 290 Ga. 6, 10 (717 SE2d 447) (2011) (trial court properly removed juror who repeatedly slept through presentation of evidence). As there appears to have been no sound legal basis to replace the juror, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying appellant’s request that it do so. See Herring v. State, 224 Ga. App. 809, 811-812 (481 SE2d 842) (1997).

3. Appellant additionally claims his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to request that the trial court conduct an inquiry into whether the juror was sleeping. To prevail on a claim of ineffectiveness, appellant must show both that counsel’s performance was [840] deficient and that the deficient performance was prejudicial to his defense. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U. S. 668 (104 SCt 2052, 80 LE2d 674) (1984); Smith v. Francis, 253 Ga. 782, 783 (325 SE2d 362) (1985). If appellant fails to meet his burden of proving either prong of this two prong test, the reviewing court need not examine the other prong. Strickland, supra, 466 U. S. 668, 697 (IV). To satisfy the first prong, appellant must overcome the strong presumption that counsel’s performance fell within a “wide range of reasonable professional assistance,” and that counsel’s decisions were made “in the exercise of reasonable professional judgment.” Id. at 689-690. Moreover, the reasonableness of counsel’s conduct is examined from counsel’s perspective at the time of trial and under the particular circumstances of the case. Smith, supra at 784.

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Mathis v. State, 750 S.E.2d 308, 293 Ga. 837, 2013 Fulton County D. Rep. 3210, 2013 WL 5708054, 2013 Ga. LEXIS 872 (Ga. 2013).

750 S.E.2d 308 (Mathis v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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