Matthews v. State

493 S.E.2d 136, 268 Ga. 798, 97 Fulton County D. Rep. 4171, 1997 Ga. LEXIS 732
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedNovember 17, 1997
DocketS97A0945
StatusPublished
Cited by102 cases

This text of 493 S.E.2d 136 (Matthews 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
Matthews v. State, 493 S.E.2d 136, 268 Ga. 798, 97 Fulton County D. Rep. 4171, 1997 Ga. LEXIS 732 (Ga. 1997).

Opinions

Thompson, Justice.

Joe Lorenzo Matthews was convicted of the felony murder of a convenience store clerk, Avalon Earls, and the armed robbery of the store owner, Thelma Johnson.1 Finding no reversible error, we affirm.

Matthews approached the counter of Johnson’s General Store in Stillmore, Georgia, with a B-B gun in hand and confronted Johnson, the owner/manager. When Johnson removed a pistol from her pocket, Matthews jumped behind the counter, struck Johnson in the head, and gained possession of her gun. Matthews demanded that Johnson open the cash register. As Matthews gathered the contents of the cash drawer, Johnson fled through the front door. Matthews ran to [799]*799the back door, where he encountered the clerk, Avalon Earls. Matthews testified he did not intend to shoot Earls, but as he was fleeing, the momentum of his arm caused Johnson’s gun to discharge and Earls was shot and killed. Matthews then shot the lock off the back door and fled.

1. The evidence was sufficient under the standard of Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307 (99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979), to find Matthews guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the felony murder of Earls with the underlying felony of armed robbery, and the armed robbery of Johnson.

2. Matthews asserts that the court erred in failing to strike two jurors for cause based on their familiarity with the defendant and the victims.

The first juror stated during voir dire that the children of the victim frequented a convenience store which she owned, and that she had heard “a lot of information” about the incident. She had previously been a teacher’s aide and recalled that the victim’s children had attended the school where she worked. When questioned by the prosecutor, she stated that she could be impartial, even though she knew the children of the deceased. She also acknowledged that she had not formed or expressed an opinion about the case, and that she could set aside what she had heard to render a fair and impartial verdict.

The second juror stated that she and her family had been close friends with the Earls family, and that Earls’ youngest son and her son had grown up together. Initially she stated, “I don’t know if I could be fair in this case,” and when questioned further by defense counsel, she stated she might feel uncomfortable sitting on the jury, but she believed that she could be fair and impartial and that she did not harbor any prejudice or bias against Matthews.

Matthews cites Lively v. State, 262 Ga. 510 (1) (421 SE2d 528) (1992) and Jones v. State, 232 Ga. 324 (206 SE2d 481) (1974), for the proposition that the juror’s own opinion of her impartiality is not determinative, but that the court must look to all circumstances in assessing a juror’s qualifications. In Jones, supra at 330, we observed that “a juror may be found disqualified even though he insists he is not biased; therefore, the juror’s opinion of his disqualification is by no means determinative.” We explained further in Lively, supra at 511, that the court must make a factual determination as to disqualification based on “all the circumstances known to the court, including, but not limited to, the juror’s own opinion of his impartiality.” In Lively, the juror was the employer of the victim, and was her confidant and advisor, offering her “‘fatherly advice’” concerning her erratic relationship with the defendant. They had also discussed matters that might be brought out at trial. In addition, the juror had discussions with the defendant concerning his relationship with the [800]*800victim. After the victim’s death, the juror served as her pallbearer and expressed sympathy to her family. Because of that extremely close relationship between the juror, the victim, and her family, we determined that the record as a whole failed to support the trial court’s finding (based solely on the juror’s statement that he could be impartial) that the juror could put aside his personal feelings, consider only the evidence, and render an impartial verdict.

In Garland v. State, 263 Ga. 495 (1) (435 SE2d 431) (1993), we clarified that the factual determination required in Lively need only be made

where the record shows on its face circumstances indicating that a potential juror has a compelling interest or bias in the case. In this situation, the record must show more than the potential juror’s own statement that he can render a decision based on the evidence in order to support a trial court’s denial of a motion to strike this juror for cause.

(Emphasis supplied.) Garland, supra at 497. As in Garland, the record in the present case fails to show that either juror had such a “compelling bias or interest in the outcome of the case,” id., as would require a further factual determination under Lively. Neither juror “held opinions or biases which were so fixed that they could not be set aside to decide the case on the evidence.” Wellons v. State, 266 Ga. 77, 84 (6) (a) (463 SE2d 868) (1995). The court did not abuse its discretion in failing to remove the jurors for cause.

3. Matthews challenges a series of evidentiary rulings.

(a) At a hearing outside the presence of the jury, the State established that Matthews was read his Miranda rights, acknowledged that he understood them, and elected to waive his rights and give a statement. Matthews asserts that the statement was rendered involuntary solely by virtue of the fact that he was not informed the interview was being recorded on videotape. In light of a valid Miranda waiver, recordation of the interview without informing the defendant did not automatically render the statement involuntary and inadmissible. See generally Carswell v. State, 268 Ga. 531 (491 SE2d 343) (1997). Additionally, even though the officer did not tell Matthews that he was being videotaped, the camera was visible and was situated on a shelf about five feet away. The trial court correctly allowed the videotape of that statement to be played to the jury.

(b) The court did not abuse its discretion in admitting a photograph of the deceased victim taken at the scene. The photograph, taken at a distance of 15 feet, was not unduly gruesome or inflammatory as to be prejudicial. Moreover, it was “relevant and material to the identity of the victim, the location of the victim’s body, the loca[801]*801tion of certain physical evidence at the scene, and the location and nature of the victim’s wounds.” Smith v. State, 258 Ga. 179, 180 (2) (366 SE2d 687) (1988). See also Williams v. State, 266 Ga. 882 (2) (471 SE2d 888) (1996).

(c) Nor did the court abuse its discretion in allowing a forensic pathologist to state an opinion as to the distance between the gun and the victim and the angle of trajectory of the bullet which entered his body. The witness explained that forensic pathologists study “terminal ballistics . . . what the missile did to the body.” They also study the angle or trajectory of the bullet as it enters the body and the path it follows, as well as the relationship of the muzzle of the gun to the point of impact on the body. Since an expert can be qualified to-testify based on special knowledge derived from experience or study, Taylor v. State, 261 Ga.

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Bluebook (online)
493 S.E.2d 136, 268 Ga. 798, 97 Fulton County D. Rep. 4171, 1997 Ga. LEXIS 732, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/matthews-v-state-ga-1997.