Pittman v. State

799 S.E.2d 215, 300 Ga. 894, 2017 WL 1374984, 2017 Ga. LEXIS 231
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedApril 17, 2017
DocketS17A0290
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 799 S.E.2d 215 (Pittman 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.

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Pittman v. State, 799 S.E.2d 215, 300 Ga. 894, 2017 WL 1374984, 2017 Ga. LEXIS 231 (Ga. 2017).

Opinion

HUNSTEIN, Justice.

Appellant Jahvon Pittman was tried and convicted of murder and related offenses in connection with the shooting death of Maxwell Fiandt.1 Pittman appeals, claiming that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a directed verdict of acquittal and alleging [895]*895ineffective assistance of counsel. Though we find no merit in Pittman’s trial phase enumerations, we do find that the trial court erred during sentencing, and, therefore, we must vacate and remand for resentencing.

Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict, the evidence shows that, at all relevant times, Melville “Teddy” Reid frequently bought drugs from the victim, Maxwell Fiandt. On the evening of March 3, 2010, Reid and his co-worker Hector Marquez agreed to rob Fiandt after Reid’s shift ended. Marquez left work and returned with his cousin, Jahvon Pittman; thereafter, the three men drove to Fiandt’s apartment complex. To gain entry to the building, Reid contacted Fiandt about purchasing marijuana; after Fiandt let Reid into the complex, Reid let Marquez and Pittman in through a back gate. Reid then went alone to Fiandt’s apartment and smoked marijuana with him and two other customers while Marquez and Pittman waited in a nearby stairwell.

During this time, Marquez sent Reid numerous text messages and eventually called him; Reid told those in Fiandt’s apartment that the caller was his mother who was waiting outside with some money for his drug purchase. Reid left the apartment but remained in a stairwell. Marquez and Pittman proceeded to knock on Fiandt’s door; after Fiandt answered the door, a skirmish ensued. Fiandt’s roommate, Kyle Barrett, saw two men dressed in all black struggling with the victim. One was restraining Fiandt in a bear hug while the other pointed a handgun at Barrett, who retreated to a closet. Moments later a shot was fired. Police officers responded to the scene and found Fiandt lying on the floor; he was later pronounced dead from a gunshot wound to his head.

Law enforcement spoke to Reid on many occasions; he eventually implicated himself, Marquez and Pittman in the crimes. Barrett also identified Marquez as the man that had Fiandt in a bear hug and provided a description of the man with the gun. Police found some [896]*896drugs, a shell casing, and Marquez’s DNA at the scene. Cell phone records showed numerous communications between Reid and Marquez leading up to Fiandt’s murder, and video surveillance from the night of the murder showed two men dressed in all black enter the apartment complex from the back entrance prior to the shooting.

During Marquez’s case-in-chief, Marquez testified that he, Reid and Pittman went to Fiandt’s apartment to procure marijuana and that Pittman accidentally shot Fiandt after a disagreement concerning the form of payment. Pittman presented alibi witnesses during his case-in-chief but did not testify.

1. At the close of the State’s case-in-chief, Pittman moved for a directed verdict of acquittal on all counts, arguing that the State failed to corroborate Reid’s accomplice testimony as required under former OCGA § 24-4-8.2 The trial court denied the motion, finding sufficient corroborating evidence to allow the case to go to the jury Pittman contends now, as he did below, that this was error. We disagree. Former OCGA § 24-4-8 required corroboration of accomplice testimony in felony cases, “where the only witness is an accomplice.” Thus, as we explained in Crawford v. State, 294 Ga. 898 (757 SE2d 102) (2014), pursuant to former OCGA § 24-4-8,

in felony cases in which the State relies on the testimony of an accomplice to the crimes, in order to justify submitting the case for the jury’s determination, the State must present the testimony of at least one other witness or evidence of corroborating circumstances. [Cit.] The additional evidence that is required “may be circumstantial and it may be slight, and it need not of itself be sufficient to warrant a conviction of the crime charged.” [Cits.] It must, however, be independent of the accomplice’s testimony and either directly connect the defendant with the crime or justify an inference that he is guilty [Cits.] In addition, the independent evidence must corroborate both the identity of the defendant and the fact of his participation in the crime. [Cits.] In other words, corroboration of only the chronology and details of the crimes is not sufficient, and there must be some independent evidence tending to show that the defendant himself was a participant in the crimes. [Cit.] Once the State adduces such evidence, it is “peculiarly a matter for the jury to determine” [897]*897whether the evidence sufficiently corroborates the accomplice’s testimony and warrants a conviction. [Cits.]

(Citations omitted.) Id. at 900-901. While slight evidence is required, “[i]t is not necessary that the corroborating evidence correspond to the accomplice’s testimony in every particular.” (Citation omitted.) Benbow v. State, 288 Ga. 192, 194 (702 SE2d 180) (2010). Further, “the corroborating evidence may be testimony from another accomplice.” Clark v. State, 296 Ga. 543, 547 (769 SE2d 376) (2015).

In making his argument, Pittman focuses on the evidence presented in the State’s case-in-chief. However, our review of the trial court’s denial of Pittman’s motion for a directed verdict of acquittal is not confined to the evidence presented up until the close of the State’s case; instead, “[t]he entire evidence is to be examined, and so long as all the evidence justifies the conviction under the appropriate standard, no error is shown by the denial of the motion for directed verdict.” Murray v. State, 295 Ga. 289, 290-291 (759 SE2d 525) (2014) (citing Black v. State, 261 Ga. 791, 796 (10) (410 SE2d 740) (1991)). See also Bethay v. State, 235 Ga. 371, 374-375 (219 SE2d 743) (1975) (overruled on other grounds Humphrey v. State, 252 Ga. 525 (1) (314 SE2d 436) (1984)) (“We therefore hold that on appeal of the overruling of a motion for directed verdict of acquittal made at the close of the state’s case in chief, the reviewing court can consider all the evidence in the case in determining whether the trial court erred in overruling the motion.”).

Reviewing the entirety of the evidence presented at trial, Reid’s accomplice testimony that Marquez and Pittman robbed and shot the victim was clearly corroborated by cell phone records, DNA evidence, video surveillance, Barrett’s pre-trial identification, numerous eyewitness accounts of what had occurred inside the apartment, and Marquez’s testimony implicating Pittman as the shooter. Though Pittman presented an alibi defense at trial, the jury was allowed to disbelieve that evidence and credit the testimony of Pittman’s accomplices, as “[r]esolving evidentiary conflicts and inconsistencies and assessing witness credibility are the province of the fact finder, not the appellate court.” (Citation and punctuation omitted.) McNeely v. State, 296 Ga. 422, 425 (768 SE2d 751) (2015).

Pursuant to the standard set forth in Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307

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Bluebook (online)
799 S.E.2d 215, 300 Ga. 894, 2017 WL 1374984, 2017 Ga. LEXIS 231, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pittman-v-state-ga-2017.