Reynolds v. State

792 S.E.2d 393, 299 Ga. 781, 2016 Ga. LEXIS 650
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedOctober 17, 2016
DocketS16A0640
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 792 S.E.2d 393 (Reynolds 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
Reynolds v. State, 792 S.E.2d 393, 299 Ga. 781, 2016 Ga. LEXIS 650 (Ga. 2016).

Opinion

BENHAM, Justice.

Appellant Dewayne Lebrón Reynolds appeals his convictions for felony murder and other crimes stemming from the shooting death of [782]*782Willie Terry Slack.1 Appellant contends the evidence was insufficient to convict, contends the trial court erred when it failed to give a requested jury instruction, and contends the trial court improperly commented on the evidence. For the reasons set forth below, we conclude these assertions of error are without merit, and so we must affirm; nevertheless, we vacate the judgment in part and remand for the correction of a merger error and resentencing.

1. Appellant contends the evidence was insufficient to convict him because the testimony of his co-defendants was uncorroborated. We disagree.

Summation of the Evidence

The evidence viewed in a light most favorable to upholding the verdicts shows that on New Year’s Eve 2012, appellant, his brother Darnell Mitchell, and his friends Willie Dublin and Terrence Red-wine, who was Dublin’s brother, were gathered at appellant’s house when they decided to go to Slack’s house and steal marijuana they believed Slack had stored in a shed. Dublin had a Glock .40 handgun with him that night. The four men went to a vacant lot across from Slack’s house, hid in some bushes and waited for Slack to leave. Believing they had been seen by a passerby, the men left the vacant lot and returned to appellant’s house. This passerby, who was later identified as Devonte Mostiller, testified he was walking down the street when he saw four men kneeling behind the bushes in the vacant lot. Mostiller said one of the men was wearing a blue and white striped shirt, while the rest of the men were dressed in dark clothing.

[783]*783After returning to appellant’s house, Redwine left and had no further involvement in the events that transpired that night. Appellant, Dublin and Mitchell, however, returned to Slack’s house to rob him. There was conflicting evidence as to who shot the victim — Dublin or appellant — needless to say, the victim was shot in the back and died on the porch of Laurel Bullock, who was his next door neighbor. Bullock testified she called police after first hearing a commotion outside and then called the police several more times when she heard a gunshot and the victim’s knocking on her door and calling out to her by her nickname “Rel.” Because Bullock stayed in her home and away from the doors and windows waiting for police to arrive, she did not see anything that transpired outside her home. Meanwhile, the three men fled after the gunshot was fired. About a week after the shooting, Dublin and Kristina Watson, who was his girlfriend, disposed of the gun by throwing it into a pond.

After the shooting, the police conducted several interviews, including interviews with appellant, Dublin, and Mitchell, who all denied any involvement in the crime. The case went cold until November 2013, at which time the police re-interviewed Watson and she told them about Dublin’s encouraging her to lie about his whereabouts on the night of the shooting. Watson also revealed the location of the gun and a diving team from the Federal Bureau of Investigation recovered it. A ballistics expert testified that a shell casing recovered at the scene of the shooting was fired from the weapon recovered by the FBI divers.

In a November 26, 2013 audio-recorded interview, which was played to the jury at trial, appellant admitted to authorities that he was present when Slack was shot and that Dublin had told him to act as a “lookout” right before the shooting took place; but appellant maintained that Dublin shot the victim. During the interview, appellant stated that Dublin rushed the victim, that the victim tried to escape to his neighbor’s house, and that the victim was crying out the name “Rel” when he was shot. Appellant said he fled the scene when he heard the gunshot.

The Testimony of Co-Defendants and Others

At trial, Dublin denied being at the crime scene and said he was at a nearby store at the time. He said he left his gun at appellant’s house next to some bushes while he walked to the store and, sometime later that night, appellant gave the gun back to him. Dublin said about a week later, he and Watson disposed of the gun. At trial, Watson corroborated Dublin’s testimony that the two disposed of the gun. In addition, Watson testified Dublin confided to her that he was [784]*784involved in the shooting, that he brought the gun and gave it to appellant, and that appellant was the shooter. In addition, Watson said Dublin asked her to lie to police about his whereabouts on the night in question.

Mitchell also testified at appellant’s trial. He stated that he, appellant, Dublin and Redwine all discussed breaking into the victim’s shed and stealing pounds of marijuana which they believed the victim was storing. To that end, around 8:00 that night, they went to a vacant lot across from the victim’s house, waiting for the victim to leave. Mitchell said the group left the vacant lot because they believed they had been seen by someone walking down the street. Mitchell said he and the other three men returned to appellant’s house and then he left in his girlfriend’s car in order to return it to her.2 Mitchell denied being present when the shooting occurred. The next day at their mother’s house, Mitchell said appellant told him, in regard to the shooting, that he had “messed up” and that “he didn’t mean to shoot the man.” Tonya Dupree, who was Mitchell’s girlfriend at the time, also testified at trial. She said that Mitchell did not return her car to her until around 10:30 or 10:45 that night, a time frame which was 15 to 30 minutes after the first 911 calls came in about the shooting. Dupree testified she overheard appellant, Mitchell, and Dublin discussing the shooting the next day and that “all of them” said Dublin had the gun first and then appellant took it. She also testified that both Mitchell and Dublin told her directly that appellant had “messed up.”

Judy Cronan Reynolds, who was appellant’s girlfriend at the time of the shooting and was his wife by the time of the trial, testified she overheard appellant, Dublin and Mitchell discussing robbing someone, but she did not know who; and she stated she heard Dublin and Mitchell ask appellant to be the lookout. She stated she argued with appellant about going anywhere with Dublin and Mitchell, but that he left after the argument. Judy also stated that appellant was wearing a blue and white striped shirt, Dublin was wearing a black hoodie and sweatpants, and Mitchell was wearing a dark shirt and dark jeans. She says when appellant returned home, she overheard him talking to someone on the phone and that appellant said, “Bro, that man dead.” Although Judy assumed appellant was speaking to Mitchell on the phone, she admitted she did not know for certain to [785]*785whom appellant was speaking. Judy said Dublin had a gun at her house that night and that she argued with appellant and Dublin about it because she did not want the gun near her small child. Judy also testified that appellant told her Dublin was the shooter.

This evidence as described above was sufficient to enable the jury to find appellant guilty of the crimes for which he was convicted beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307 (99 SCt 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979).

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Bluebook (online)
792 S.E.2d 393, 299 Ga. 781, 2016 Ga. LEXIS 650, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reynolds-v-state-ga-2016.