Smith v. State

510 S.E.2d 1, 270 Ga. 240, 98 Fulton County D. Rep. 3788, 1998 Ga. LEXIS 1057
Supreme Court of Georgia·Decided November 9, 1998·No. S98P0790·Published·Cited by 39 cases

Opinions

Hines, Justice.

David Phillip Smith was convicted of the malice murder of Jeremy Javies as well as theft by receiving stolen property and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.1 The jury recommended a death sentence, finding as aggravating circumstances that the murder was committed while the defendant was engaged in the commission of an aggravated battery; and that the murder was outrageously and wantonly vile, horrible, and inhuman in that it involved an aggravated battery to the victim and torture. OCGA § 17-10-30 (b) (2); (b) (7). Smith appeals his convictions and sentences. Because Smith was prevented from introducing relevant evidence in the guilt/innocence phase, we reverse Smith’s convictions for murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. We affirm his conviction for theft by receiving stolen property.

The evidence presented at trial showed that Smith purchased a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun from an acquaintance who had stolen [241] the gun during a burglary. Smith also had a sawed-off 16-gauge shotgun. On March 22, 1995, Smith went to the home of a friend, Jeremy Javies, who was 16 years old, and got into an argument with Javies on the front porch. Javies’ mother heard the argument but could not discern what they were arguing about. After the argument, Javies came inside and told his mother, ‘You don’t have to worry about seeing David come over here no more because I told him if he didn’t get rid of the guns that you was gonna go to the police.”

Later that night, Smith and Javies went into the woods with the shotguns. Neighbors heard one shot, a pause of one-two minutes, and then a rapid series of additional shots. About 15 minutes later, Lamar Hopkins, an acquaintance of Smith, saw Smith walking on a nearby road carrying both shotguns in a blue book bag. Smith told Hopkins that he had just killed Javies, and Hopkins went with him to a place in the woods where he hid the shotguns. Two additional witnesses also saw Smith walking on the road carrying the book bag within minutes of the shooting. Hopkins further testified that Smith had been angry with Javies on the day before the shooting, and that Smith told him that he shot Javies because he was afraid that Javies was going to tell on him for possessing the shotguns.

Javies’ body and the book bag containing the shotguns were found the following day. Javies had six and possibly seven gunshot wounds: four wounds to the arms and shoulders, a press-contact shot to the neck that had fractured the vertebrae, and one and possibly two press-contact shots to the face. All of the wounds were inflicted by a 12-gauge shotgun. At trial, Smith admitted shooting Javies, but claimed that Javies had first fired at him with the 16-gauge shotgun.

The evidence was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find Smith guilty of the crimes charged beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307 (99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979).

Pretrial Issues

1. The trial court did not err by denying Smith’s plea in bar to prevent the seeking of the death penalty in his case due to alleged gender discrimination by the Clayton County district attorney. Perkins v. State, 269 Ga. 791 (505 SE2d 16) (1998). Smith failed to show that the decision-makers in his case acted with discriminatory intent. See id.; McCleskey v. Kemp, 481 U. S. 279, 292 (107 SC 1756, 95 LE2d 262) (1987); Stephens v. State, 265 Ga. 356, 357 (1) (456 SE2d 560) (1995).

2. Smith complains that the State obtained improper access to his juvenile record during the discovery process for two reasons: 1) a detective viewed Smith’s juvenile file in violation of OCGA §§ 15-11-58 and 15-11-59; and 2) a later juvenile court proceeding where the [242] State was given permission to copy portions of the file was outside the scope of the Unified Appeal Procedure (“UAP”). A defendant’s juvenile court record is admissible as aggravation evidence in the sentencing phase of a capital trial. Burrell v. State, 258 Ga. 841, 844 (7) (376 SE2d 184) (1989); OCGA § 15-11-38 (b). The record shows that the detective complied with OCGA § 15-11-59 (c) because he obtained the consent of the juvenile court judge before examining Smith’s file. Later, when the State wanted to copy portions of the file, it sought permission in a juvenile court hearing that Smith complains was invalid because it was outside the scope of the UAP. The UAP, however, is a mechanism designed to ensure that all legal issues are raised on behalf of a defendant and that the occurrence of error is minimized. UAP § I (A). It is not intended to bar legal proceedings outside the Superior Court that may be necessary for the litigation of a capital case. Therefore, we find no error.

Voir Dire

3. The trial court did not err by excusing a prospective juror due to her inability to consider a possible death sentence. Wainwright v. Witt, 469 U. S. 412, 424 (105 SC 844, 83 LE2d 841) (1985); Greene v. State, 268 Ga. 47, 48 (485 SE2d 741) (1997).

The Guilt/Innocence Phase

4. Smith argues that he was prevented from introducing evidence that was relevant to his claims of self-defense and voluntary manslaughter. We agree. At the start of the trial, the State filed a motion in limine to prevent Smith from presenting evidence or questioning witnesses regarding two incidents that occurred two days before the shooting. The State claimed that these two incidents were irrelevant and that they amounted to impermissible bad character evidence regarding the victim. OCGA § 24-2-2. The State also claimed that the defense violated Uniform Superior Court Rules 31.1 and 31.6 by failing to provide notice of its intent to introduce evidence of these incidents, because they were past violent acts by the victim. The trial court ruled that the incidents were irrelevant, and therefore inadmissible, because they occurred two days before the shooting. The trial court also ruled that the evidence was inadmissible due to Smith’s failure to comply with Uniform Superior Court Rule 31.6.

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Smith v. State, 510 S.E.2d 1, 270 Ga. 240, 98 Fulton County D. Rep. 3788, 1998 Ga. LEXIS 1057 (Ga. 1998).

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