McBurrows v. State

750 S.E.2d 436, 325 Ga. App. 303
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedNovember 7, 2013
DocketA13A1558
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 750 S.E.2d 436 (McBurrows 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
McBurrows v. State, 750 S.E.2d 436, 325 Ga. App. 303 (Ga. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

Miller, Judge.

Following a jury trial, Keith McBurrows was convicted of two counts of armed robbery (OCGA § 16-8-41 (a)) and two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony (OCGA § 16-11-106 (b) (l)).1 McBurrows appeals from the denial of his motion for new trial, contending that the trial court erred in: (1) denying his motion to suppress; (2) admitting bad character evidence; (3) allowing hearsay testimony; (4) allowing certain exhibits to go out with the jury in violation of the continuing witness rule; and (5) failing to conduct an in camera inspection of the State’s file and denying his request to copy and seal the file. McBurrows also contends that the trial court erred in charging the jury, and the State improperly referred to evidence in violation of the trial court’s ruling on a motion in limine. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict,2 the evidence shows that on the night of March 21, 2003, the first victim went to a check-cashing store located on the corner of Campbellton Road and DeLowe Drive in Atlanta. After she cashed her check, the first victim caught a bus to return to her apartment, which was located about five blocks away from the check-cashing store. Upon exiting the bus, the first victim walked across the street and onto the driveway that led into her apartment complex. The first victim heard a car and then someone running up from behind her. When the first victim turned around, McBurrows was standing about five feet away and pointing a silver gun at her. McBurrows demanded the victim’s purse, which contained approximately $193 in cash. After the first victim gave her purse to McBurrows, he returned to the car and left the apartment complex and headed in the direction of the check-cashing store. The first victim then ran into her apartment and called [304]*304the police. The first victim described the vehicle as a 1994 two-door, dark-blue Ford Thunderbird that had a drive-out tag.

A few days later, on March 25, 2003, the second victim left work at 11:00 p.m. and drove to the same check-cashing store located on Campbellton Road. After the second victim received some money orders and cash, she exited the store and returned to her car. She got into her car and put her purse, money orders, and some envelopes on the seat and began to close the car door. McBurrows then snatched open the door, pointed a silver gun at the second victim’s head, and reached over the victim to turn off the car’s interior light. The second victim testified that at one point, she was almost face-to-face with McBurrows and saw his face completely. McBurrows warned the second victim to keep quiet, grabbed her purse and money orders, and took off running. The victim got out of her car and started yelling for help. The victim learned that her assailant left in a dark Ford Thunderbird and headed toward an apartment complex. The second victim subsequently called the police.

A responding officer met the second victim at the apartment complex. The officer spoke to the owner of the Ford Thunderbird. The owner, who had lent his vehicle to McBurrows and his brother, had just seen McBurrows return to the apartment complex with a woman’s purse that contained money orders. When questioned by the police, however, the owner lied to police and said that nobody had recently been driving his vehicle. Since the second victim did not identify the owner of the vehicle as being involved in the robbery, the officer did not believe that the vehicle was involved in the robbery.

About a week later, on April 2, 2003, officers received information that two men were sitting in a parked car across the street from the check-cashing store on Campbellton Road, and the description of the vehicle matched the description of the car given by the victims. Officers responded to the scene and subsequently arrested McBurrows. A search of the vehicle revealed a drive-out tag and a black and silver gun. A photo lineup was subsequently shown to both victims, who both positively identified McBurrows as their assailant.

1. McBurrows challenges the denial of his motion to suppress in several respects. In reviewing a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress, we may consider all relevant and admissible evidence of record introduced at the motion hearing or during trial. See Walker v. State, 314 Ga. App. 67 (1) (722 SE2d 887) (2012). Additionally,

[wjhile a trial court’s findings as to disputed facts will be reviewed to determine whether the ruling was clearly erroneous, where the evidence is uncontroverted and no question regarding the credibility of witnesses is presented, the [305]*305trial court’s application of the law to undisputed facts is subject to de novo appellate review.

(Citation and punctuation omitted.) Id.

(a) McBurrows first contends that the officers lacked a reasonable suspicion to conduct the stop. We disagree.

A law enforcement officer may make a brief, investigatory stop of a vehicle when he has a reasonable, articulable suspicion that the person stopped has been, or is about to be, engaged in criminal activity. This specific, articulable suspicion must be based on the totality of the circumstances — e.g., objective observations, information from police reports, the modes or patterns of certain kinds of lawbreakers, and the inferences drawn and deductions made by a trained law enforcement officer; inferences and deductions that might well elude an untrained person. A founded suspicion is all that is necessary, some basis from which the court can determine that the detention was not arbitrary or harassing. The existence of an articulable suspicion can be based on the collective knowledge of law enforcement officials.

(Punctuation and footnotes omitted.) Prado v. State, 306 Ga. App. 240, 245 (1) (701 SE2d 871) (2010).

As to the initial stop, the detective investigating the armed robberies testified at the- motion to suppress hearing that he compared the similarities between the two armed robberies. The detective went to the check-cashing store on Campbellton Road and DeLowe Drive and to other nearby businesses to ask for their help in apprehending the individual involved in the rash of robberies in the area. The detective informed local businesses that he was looking for a black male between 5'8" and 6'1" and between 210 and 250 pounds, and he was also looking for a dark blue or black two-door Ford Thunderbird. The detective asked business owners to call him or 911 if they saw a vehicle matching that description in the area between the hours of 10:30 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. At about 10:30 one night, the detective received a call from a local security guard that the guard saw a dark-colored Ford Thunderbird parked across the street from the check-cashing store and that two people were sitting inside the vehicle. The detective broadcast a be-on-the-lookout (“BOLO”), and dispatch then sent some units to Campbellton Road and DeLowe Drive. Police officers subsequently stopped the two-door black Thunderbird across the street from the check-cashing store, and McBurrows was detained.

[306]*306The BOLO broadcast by the detective provided a reasonable basis to stop the vehicle in which McBurrows was a passenger.

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Bluebook (online)
750 S.E.2d 436, 325 Ga. App. 303, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcburrows-v-state-gactapp-2013.