Maxwell v. State

503 S.E.2d 668, 233 Ga. App. 419, 98 Fulton County D. Rep. 2639, 1998 Ga. App. LEXIS 953
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedJune 30, 1998
DocketA98A1315
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 503 S.E.2d 668 (Maxwell 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
Maxwell v. State, 503 S.E.2d 668, 233 Ga. App. 419, 98 Fulton County D. Rep. 2639, 1998 Ga. App. LEXIS 953 (Ga. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

Eldridge, Judge.

A DeKalb County grand jury returned an indictment against appellant Herbert Maxwell and two co-defendants, Alonzo Johnson and Dennis Jordan, charging each of them with one count of armed robbery, three counts of aggravated assault, one count of burglary, and two counts of false imprisonment. A jury found all three men guilty of armed robbery, one count of aggravated assault, and two counts of false imprisonment. Here, Maxwell appeals, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence against him and alleging three errors of law. We affirm.

1. On appeal following a conviction, the evidence must be viewed in a light most favorable to the verdict, and Maxwell no longer enjoys a presumption of innocence; moreover, on appeal this Court determines evidence sufficiency and does not weigh the evidence or determine witness credibility. Webb v. State, 228 Ga. App. 624, 625 (492 SE2d 312) (1997).

In a light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence in this case shows that in November 1996, at approximately 8:00 p.m., Epimenio Jimenez and his brother-in-law, Ever Aquirre, were in their ground floor apartment located at 4753-A Terrace Garden Apartments, *420 Buford Highway, Chamblee, Georgia. Also present were Jimenez’s three young children and Jimenez’s brother, Albaro. Ever Aquirre heard a knock at the front door. As he opened the door, it was kicked open the remainder of the way. Appellant Maxwell entered the apartment along with co-defendants Johnson and Jordan.

Maxwell and Johnson had guns; Jordan carried a knife. Maxwell put his gun to Aquirre’s head, and Johnson pulled several gold chains from around Aquirre’s neck. Maxwell then hit Aquirre in the head with his weapon. All three of the assailants repeatedly demanded money.

After the initial assault on Aquirre, Epimenio Jimenez rushed into the bedroom to call 911. He held the bedroom door shut as the assailants kicked at it. The police received the 911 call and immediately dispatched officers to the scene. One officer, E. Westbrooks, was on patrol nearby and reached the complex within “seconds” of the 911 call going out. Officer Westbrooks also worked security at the apartments when off-duty, so he was familiar with the precise incident location in the large complex. He pulled in front of the victims’ building and waited for backup assistance.

In the apartment, the assailants were successful in kicking the bedroom door almost all the way in. When they discovered that Jimenez was on the telephone with the police, Maxwell and the co-defendants fled the apartment. They got into a black Acura that had been parked outside the victims’ building and started to leave the parking lot at a high rate of speed with the car’s headlights off. As Officer Westbrooks witnessed this, Albaro Jimenez rushed out into the parking lot yelling and pointing at the fleeing Acura. Westbrooks activated his blue lights and siren and followed the Acura, which then exited the complex from the drive marked “entrance,” almost hitting an entering police car.

Westbrooks and other officers engaged in a high speed chase of the black Acura down Buford Highway to Clairmont Road. The Acura reached speeds of over 90 mph and continuously changed lanes in order to avoid traffic. The Acura turned onto Clairmont where it hit a pickup truck and was knocked off the road. Westbrooks, close behind, pulled over and immediately approached the vehicle; the driver was attempting to “crank” the car in order to continue to flee. Westbrooks removed the driver from the car. Other officers on the scene removed the passengers. Dennis Jordan was the driver, and Alonzo Johnson was the front seat passenger. Appellant Maxwell was in the back seat of the Acura.

Only 20 minutes had elapsed between the time of the initial armed robbery and the stop. Ever Aquirre was brought to the scene on Clairmont Road and identified Maxwell as the one who put the gun to his head and struck him with the weapon; Aquirre also identi *421 fied co-defendants Johnson and Jordan as participants in the armed robbery.

Thereafter, pursuant to a search of the car, a brown leather gun holster was found in the back seat floorboard, near where Maxwell had been sitting. The holster was marked “Smith & Wesson Model 29.” Because a gun was not located in the Acura, officers returned to the victims’ apartment building to search for one. A blue steel Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver was located in the fire lane of the parking lot nearest the victims’ building. The weapon fit the holster recovered from the Acura.

At trial, the jury heard the 911 tape, which included a terrified Epimenio Jimenez reporting what was happening as it occurred, children crying out in the background, and Jimenez’s attempts to prevent the assailants from breaking in the bedroom door. The jury heard testimony from Jimenez, as well as Aquirre who made an in-court identification of Maxwell, Johnson, and Jordan as the perpetrators of the armed robbery. The jury also heard testimony from the police officers involved, including Westbrooks, regarding the chase, the investigation, and the identification of Maxwell, Johnson, and Jordan as the occupants of the Acura. An officer also testified as to Aquirre’s out-of-court identification of the three men as the perpetrators of the armed robbery at the time of the incident. The jury had before it both the Smith & Wesson Model 29 holster recovered from the back floorboard of the Acura and the Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver found in the parking lot near the victims’ apartment. Also, the jury heard the statements that Aquirre and Jimenez gave to the police at the time of the incident, which statements did not vary in any material respect from their trial testimony. Neither Maxwell nor the other defendants introduced any evidence at trial.

We find that the evidence was more than sufficient for a rational trier of fact to have found Maxwell guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the offenses of armed robbery, aggravated assault, and two counts of false imprisonment. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307 (99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979).

2. Maxwell contends that under the recent Supreme Court of Georgia case of Duckworth v. State, 268 Ga. 566 (492 SE2d 201) (1997), the trial court erred by requiring that he tender the statements of the victims into evidence before using the prior inconsistencies allegedly contained therein for impeachment purposes. Maxwell contends that this error resulted in his losing the right to final opening and concluding argument to the jury.

Appellant is correct that under the Supreme Court’s holding in Duckworth v. State (decided six months after the trial of this case), “the statute [OCGA § 24-9-83] does not require that the prior inconsistent statement be admitted into evidence before it is used for *422 impeachment purposes.” Id. at 568. Thus, the trial court’s ruling was error. “However, error does not require reversal unless there is harm resulting from it. Mobley v. State, 265 Ga. 292 (4) (455 SE2d 61) (1995).” Jackson v. State, 268 Ga.

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Bluebook (online)
503 S.E.2d 668, 233 Ga. App. 419, 98 Fulton County D. Rep. 2639, 1998 Ga. App. LEXIS 953, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/maxwell-v-state-gactapp-1998.