Patterson v. State

720 S.E.2d 278, 312 Ga. App. 793, 2011 Fulton County D. Rep. 3969, 2011 Ga. App. LEXIS 1044
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedNovember 22, 2011
DocketA11A1146
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 720 S.E.2d 278 (Patterson 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
Patterson v. State, 720 S.E.2d 278, 312 Ga. App. 793, 2011 Fulton County D. Rep. 3969, 2011 Ga. App. LEXIS 1044 (Ga. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

Barnes, Presiding Judge.

Following a jury trial, Jason Patrick Patterson was convicted of one count of burglary, one count of armed robbery, three counts of aggravated assault, three counts of kidnapping, and three counts of false imprisonment.1 Patterson filed a motion for new trial asserting various grounds, including insufficiency of the evidence, which, after a hearing, the trial court granted as to one of the kidnapping counts. The trial court denied the motion as to all other grounds and Patterson now appeals. He contends that the State’s evidence was insufficient to support two of his convictions, that his trial counsel was ineffective, and that the trial court erred in allowing into evidence certain testimony in violation of OCGA § 17-16-1. Upon our review, we affirm.

When a criminal defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his conviction, “the relevant question is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” (Emphasis in original.) Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307, 319 (III) (B) (99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979). The jury, not this Court, resolves conflicts in the testimony, weighs the evidence, and draws reasonable inferences from basic facts to ultimate facts. Id. “As long as there is some competent evidence, even though contradicted, to support each fact necessary to make out the State’s case, the jury’s verdict will be [794]*794upheld.” (Citation and punctuation omitted.) Miller v. State, 273 Ga. 831, 832 (546 SE2d 524) (2001).

So viewed, the facts relevant to the appeal reveal that on the afternoon of March 26, 2006, the victim was in the kitchen of his Cobb County home when a man, later identified as Patterson, entered the room through the door leading from the carport. Patterson, who was wearing a motorcycle helmet, pointed an automatic pistol at the victim’s head and demanded his money and jewelry. The victim told him where his money and valuables were located, and told him that his two young children were in their rooms. Patterson ordered the victim to lie down on the floor and covered his head with a towel. The victim heard a second person enter the room. The accomplice was later identified as Daniel Steele.

Patterson went to the victim’s son and daughter’s rooms, and forced them at gunpoint to go to the kitchen where he made the pair join their father on the floor. Steele had a bandana over his face and was holding a shotgun. The victim and his children were tied up with extension cords; and while Steele held the shotgun on the family, Patterson ransacked the home for valuables. The pair took cash, jewelry, checkbooks, two cell phones, and the victim’s Ford Mustang and Expedition.

The men drove the vehicles to the apartment of the woman who had earlier taken them to the victim’s house. She testified that Patterson was driving the Mustang, and showed her jewelry and credit cards that he had taken from the victim’s home. The three drove to an Atlanta hotel and rented a room. Police tracked the Mustang to the location via a LoJack signal, and although they attempted to capture Patterson, Steele, and the woman when they exited the hotel, the group escaped, and a high speed chase ensued. The high speed chase ended when Patterson lost control of the Mustang and crashed into a ravine in Fulton County. Steele crashed the Expedition in Gwinnett County. Both men and the woman who was in the car with Patterson were transported to the hospital. Police recovered a motorcycle helmet, pistol, jewelry, and the victim’s checkbook from the Mustang Patterson was driving, and jewelry, checks, a cell phone — all belonging to the victim — and a shotgun from the Expedition.

Steele entered a guilty plea to burglary, armed robbery, aggravated assault, and false imprisonment, and originally implicated Patterson as his accomplice, but later testified that Patterson was not involved.

1. Patterson first contends that there was insufficient evidence of asportation to sustain the kidnapping convictions under Garza u. State, 284 Ga. 696 (670 SE2d 73) (2008). He maintains that the movement of the children from their bedrooms to the kitchen was an [795]*795inherent part of the burglary and armed robbery as it allowed for the taking of items from the house without interference. Patterson contends that the movement presented no additional danger to the children, other than that posed by the other crimes.

Although the crime occurred in 2006, Garza was decided after Patterson was convicted, and while his case was pending appeal. Thus, according to the “pipeline” rule, Garza applies to this case. Hammond v. State, 289 Ga. 142, 143-144 (1) (710 SE2d 124) (2011).2 Garza sets out four factors that should be considered in determining whether the asportation element of kidnapping is met:

(1) the duration of the movement; (2) whether the movement occurred during the commission of a separate offense; (3) whether such movement was an inherent part of that separate offense; and (4) whether the movement itself presented a significant danger to the victim independent of the danger posed by the separate offense.

284 Ga. at 702 (1).

Here, the children were removed from their bedrooms by gunpoint and taken to the kitchen. The movement was not an inherent part of the crimes as their movement to the kitchen was not necessary to effect the completion of the burglary, armed robbery, or aggravated assault. Also, by moving them from their rooms, they were placed in greater danger because Patterson and his accomplice’s control over them was enhanced. See Henderson v. State, 285 Ga. 240, 245 (5) (675 SE2d 28) (2009) (moving victims into a different room after demanding at gunpoint that they empty their pockets was movement after and not incidental to the armed robbery); Williams v. State, 307 Ga. App. 675, 678 (1) (705 SE2d 906) (2011) (aggravated assault was completed when defendant pointed gun at victim and grabbed her, rendering his subsequent movement of her into the bathroom independent of that crime); Bryant v. State, 304 Ga. App. 755, 757 (1) (697 SE2d 860) (2010) (forcing victim into the house was done after the aggravated assault of sticking a gun into his neck had been completed).

Thus, contrary to Patterson’s contention, the evidence was sufficient to establish the asportation element of the kidnapping convictions of the children.

2. Patterson also contends that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to challenge the armed robbery count in his indictment. [796]*796He argues that it did not sufficiently allege the offense of armed robbery because it did not allege that property was taken “from the immediate presence of another.”

The two-prong test for determining the validity of a claim of ineffectiveness of counsel provided in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U. S. 668

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Bluebook (online)
720 S.E.2d 278, 312 Ga. App. 793, 2011 Fulton County D. Rep. 3969, 2011 Ga. App. LEXIS 1044, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/patterson-v-state-gactapp-2011.