Scott v. State

824 S.E.2d 91, 348 Ga. App. 634
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedFebruary 14, 2019
DocketA18A1907
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 824 S.E.2d 91 (Scott 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
Scott v. State, 824 S.E.2d 91, 348 Ga. App. 634 (Ga. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

McFadden, Presiding Judge.

*634After a jury trial, Benjamin Scott was convicted of armed robbery and possession of tools for the commission of a crime. Scott appeals the denial of his motion for new trial, arguing that the state failed to prove venue, but the evidence was sufficient to authorize the jury to find that the crimes were committed in Chatham County as charged. Scott also argues that the trial court erred by admitting certain irrelevant hearsay, but we find that it is not highly probable that any such error contributed to the verdict of guilt. So we affirm.

1. Evidence.

On appeal from a criminal conviction,

the evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, and the defendant no longer enjoys the presumption of innocence; moreover, an appellate court *92does not weigh the evidence or determine witness credibility but only determines whether the evidence is sufficient under the standard of Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).

Morris v. State , 322 Ga. App. 682 (1), 746 S.E.2d 162 (2013) (citation omitted). So viewed, the evidence showed that the victim was the assistant manager at a Garden City Domino's pizza restaurant in Chatham County. Scott had been a delivery driver for the restaurant.

Scott stopped coming to work. One night three weeks later, the victim was making the night deposit at the Wells Fargo bank adjacent to the Domino's restaurant. He was in the bank parking lot when someone approached him. The hood of the person's shirt partially covered his face.

The victim began to run away, but when he reached the end of the bank parking lot, he slipped and fell. He got up and started running again toward the Domino's restaurant. The robber caught up with him, grabbed him, and slammed him to the ground. As the victim fell, the robber struck him in the back with a long object he was carrying, inflicting injuries requiring stitches, and asked him, "Where's the money at?" The victim recognized the voice as Scott's. The robber grabbed the deposit bags, which contained $1,000, from the victim's hands and ran off.

At the scene, the police recovered a long piece of wood wrapped in yarn with spray-painted razor blades embedded in the sides and an *635object that seemed to be a homemade tool wrapped in a jacket with an ROTC patch. Scott wore the same kind of jacket with an ROTC patch.

The police executed a search warrant at Scott's house and found bags of yarn, Domino's deposit bags, and deposit slips prepared by the victim in Scott's bedroom. In the trash can outside Scott's house, the police found spray paint and razor blades like the spray paint and razors blades used in the homemade weapons.

At the police station, Scott spontaneously told the lead investigator that he did not hit the victim; rather, the victim ran into his weapon. He also said that he just needed money.

The jury found Scott guilty of armed robbery, two counts of aggravated assault, and possession of tools for the commission of a crime. The trial court merged the aggravated assault convictions into the armed robbery conviction and imposed a sentence of twenty years, twelve years to be served in confinement and the remaining eight years to be served on probation. Scott filed a motion for new trial, which the trial court denied, and then this appeal.

2. Venue.

Scott argues that the state failed to prove venue beyond a reasonable doubt. We disagree because, viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence was sufficient to authorize the jury to find that the crimes were committed in Chatham County as charged.

We review "a challenge to the sufficiency of the venue evidence just like we review a challenge to the evidence of guilt: we view the evidence in a light most favorable to support the verdict and determine whether the evidence was sufficient to permit a rational trier of fact to find beyond a reasonable doubt that the crime was committed in the county where the defendant was indicted." Worthen v. State , 304 Ga. 862, 865 (3) (a), 823 S.E.2d 291, 2019 WL 272696 (Case No. S18A1212, decided Jan. 22, 2019). "Whether the state met its burden as to venue is a matter resting soundly within the purview of the jury, and ambiguities in the trial evidence must be resolved by the trial jury, not appellate courts." Garza v. State , 347 Ga. App. 335, 337 (1) (b), 819 S.E.2d 497 (2018) (citations and punctuation omitted).

Venue for the crime of armed robbery is the location where the victim lost complete dominion over the property taken. See Bradley v. State , 272 Ga. 740, 741-743 (2), 533 S.E.2d 727 (2000). See also OCGA § 16-8-41 (a) ("A person commits the offense of armed robbery when, with intent to commit theft, he or she takes property of another *636from the person or the immediate presence of another *93by use of an offensive weapon, or any replica, article, or device having the appearance of such weapon.").

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824 S.E.2d 91, 348 Ga. App. 634, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scott-v-state-gactapp-2019.