Smith v. State

822 S.E.2d 220, 304 Ga. 752
Supreme Court of Georgia·Decided December 10, 2018·No. S18A1191·Published·Cited by 21 cases

Opinion

Hunstein, Justice.

**752Appellant Jonathan Michael Smith appeals his convictions for murder and related offenses arising out of the beating death of sixteen-year-old Cheyenne Hair and her unborn child.1 On appeal, **753Appellant asserts only that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction for false imprisonment. Finding no error, we affirm.

Reviewing the record in a light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence adduced at trial established as follows. In December 2013, emergency personnel and law enforcement responded to a residence in Jackson County, Georgia, following Appellant's 911 call reporting that his girlfriend, Cheyenne Hair, was unresponsive. Appellant, who was then 34 years old, initially reported to law enforcement that he had discovered Cheyenne's lifeless body in the bedroom of their shared residence when he had arrived home from work; he also reported that a cable technician named "Chad" had been recently harassing Cheyenne. Cheyenne was bruised about her face and body, and she was transported to a local hospital where she later died. A medical examiner testified that the victim died of blunt-force trauma to the head and was eight-weeks pregnant with Appellant's child at the time of her death.

During a subsequent search of the residence, law enforcement observed hasps on both interior and exterior doors, as well as windows that had been glued shut; padlocks were discovered in the kitchen, and keys to the locks were discovered elsewhere in the house. Investigators also discovered a cellular telephone secreted in a wall. A search of the smartphone revealed earlier images of an obviously battered Cheyenne with duct tape over her mouth; in some photographs, Cheyenne appears to be asleep or unconscious. The phone also contained photographs of Cheyenne's genitals, and timestamps reflect that the photographs were taken just minutes before Appellant placed the 911 call. Among the text messages discovered on the phone was one sent from Appellant to Cheyenne's mother concerning Cheyenne being unfaithful:

I'm not [going to hit her]. She's just scared I will cause I did everytime she's let him in my house. Now she can't let him in and he *222can't get in. So he's mad an she want's to leave. What should I thank. The only reason she has been here is so she could see him why I'm at work. Now she can't f**k him she wants to leave. That's how I see it. I'll be fine. I'm use to people doin me like this. Has been all my life.

While he was in pre-trial detention, Appellant told other inmates that he had kept Cheyenne locked in the house to prevent her from leaving and that Cheyenne had died while the couple had been engaged in physically aggressive sexual intercourse. Specifically, he told others that he had slammed her head into a bed frame and then a wall during sex, leaving a dent in the wall, and that he had dropped **754or pushed her onto her head following the completion of the sexual act, after which her eyes rolled back into her head.

The jury heard testimony, elicited pursuant to OCGA § 24-4-404 (b), that Appellant had restrained, abused, and raped other women with whom he had been romantically involved. The jury also heard testimony from various witnesses that no cable technician by the name of "Chad" could be found. Appellant testified on his own behalf, characterizing Cheyenne's death and earlier injuries as accidental and attributable to consensual, rough sex.

In his sole enumeration of error, Appellant contends that the evidence was insufficient for the jury to consider the charge of false imprisonment and that he was entitled to a directed verdict on the count. We disagree.

"The standard of review for the denial of a motion for a directed verdict of acquittal is the same as for determining the sufficiency of the evidence to support a conviction." Hester v. State, 282 Ga. 239, 240, 647 S.E.2d 60 (2007). When reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence,

the proper standard for review is whether a rational trier of fact could have found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). "This Court does not reweigh evidence or resolve conflicts in testimony; instead, evidence is reviewed in a light most favorable to the verdict, with deference to the jury's assessment of the weight and credibility of the evidence." Hayes v. State, 292 Ga. 506, 506, 739 S.E.2d 313 (2013).

Thomas v. State, 300 Ga. 433, 436, 796 S.E.2d 242 (2017).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Smith v. State, 822 S.E.2d 220, 304 Ga. 752 (Ga. 2018).

822 S.E.2d 220 (Smith v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Richardson v. State
Supreme Court of Georgia, 2026
Odies Christopher Wade v. State
Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2025
Siders v. State
907 S.E.2d 645 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2024)
Stroud v. State
900 S.E.2d 619 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2024)
Williams v. State
315 Ga. 767 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2023)
Monroe v. State
884 S.E.2d 906 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2023)
Clarence Merchant v. State
Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2022
Harris v. State
864 S.E.2d 31 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2021)
FITTS v. THE STATE (Two Cases)
859 S.E.2d 79 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2021)
Bedford v. State
857 S.E.2d 708 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2021)
Scott v. State
307 Ga. 37 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2019)
John H. Handley v. State
Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2019
Cain v. State
306 Ga. 434 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2019)
Ronnie Bartlett v. State
Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2019
Bartlett v. State
829 S.E.2d 187 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2019)
State v. Jason Dale Reno
829 S.E.2d 776 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2019)
BROXTON v. THE STATE (Two Cases)
306 Ga. 127 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2019)
Broxton v. State
829 S.E.2d 333 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2019)
Bell v. State
305 Ga. 707 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2019)
Smith v. State
304 Ga. 752 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2018)