State v. Holmes

820 S.E.2d 26, 304 Ga. 524
Supreme Court of Georgia·Decided October 9, 2018·No. S18A0851, S18X0852·Published·Cited by 29 cases

Opinion

Benham, Justice.

**524In June of 2015, cross-appellant Quantravious Antwan Holmes was convicted of malice murder and other offenses arising out of the shooting death of his friend Todd Burkes.1 The trial court granted Holmes' motion for new trial on two grounds: on the ground that the **525court had erred by denying Holmes permission to enter into evidence portions of the recorded and transcribed statement of a person named Hamilton, who was not available to appear as a witness at trial; and on the general grounds as the "thirteenth juror." The State filed its notice of appeal from the order granting the motion for new trial, and Holmes was permitted to file an out-of-time notice of cross-appeal asserting insufficiency of the evidence to convict.

For the reasons that follow, we reject Holmes' assertion that the evidence was legally insufficient to support his conviction. We also vacate in part the trial court's order granting a new trial and remand the case to *29the trial court for further consideration pursuant to this opinion.

Holmes' Cross-Appeal, Case No. S18X0852

1. Legal Sufficiency of the Evidence

The evidence construed in a light most favorable to upholding the jury's verdict shows as follows. The murder occurred on a pedestrian bridge in downtown Atlanta at approximately 3:30 a.m. on October 22, 2013. Earlier in the evening, Holmes and Burkes were seen handling a "western style" revolver. They were seen together near the Greyhound Bus terminal, and Holmes was wearing a dark-colored hoodie with white stripes and a large white logo design on the front. A witness who knew both Holmes and the victim told investigators that they were arguing over a woman they were both interested in dating. At trial, the witness denied the men were arguing or that she saw them with a pistol. She explained that she made these statements to the investigators in hopes of pleasing the police since she was facing a criminal charge. A second witness, who was a convicted felon, testified he saw Holmes and the victim arguing earlier in the day and that he also saw them passing around a revolver.

The two men were also seen in the early morning hours at a restaurant near the Five Points MARTA station, and contradictory evidence was presented about whether they were still arguing. They were last seen together at the entrance to the pedestrian bridge. Burkes' body was discovered on the bridge with several gunshot **526wounds that appeared to have been fired from a revolver that was never recovered. Also, Burkes' phone and wallet were missing. A resident of a nearby third-floor condo heard shots fired around 3:30 a.m. and then saw a person running away from the direction of the bridge who was wearing a gray hoodie. That witness could not identify the person, however, and did not notice any distinguishing markings on the hoodie. After the shooting, Holmes left Atlanta for New York.

Cross-appellant Holmes argues that the evidence was legally insufficient to support his conviction. OCGA § 24-14-6 provides: "To warrant a conviction on circumstantial evidence, the proved facts shall not only be consistent with the hypothesis of guilt, but shall exclude every other reasonable hypothesis save that of the guilt of the accused." Evidence was presented that a person named Hamilton had possession of the victim's phone shortly after the time of the shooting. From this, Holmes argues the State failed to exclude the reasonable hypothesis that Hamilton killed the victim and thus failed to meet the evidentiary standard for proving Holmes committed the crimes charged. Questions about the reasonableness of other hypotheses in cases based on circumstantial evidence, however, are for the trier of fact to decide. Winston v. State , 303 Ga. 604, 607, 814 S.E.2d 408 (2018) ; see Nichols v. State , 292 Ga. 290, 291, 736 S.E.2d 407 (2013). Having reviewed the record, we conclude the jury was authorized to find that the evidence, though circumstantial, was sufficient to exclude every reasonable hypothesis save that of guilt. In such a case, the jury's finding will not be disturbed unless the verdict of guilty is insupportable as a matter of law. See Neely v. State , 302 Ga. 121, 123 (1), 805 S.E.2d 18 (2017) ; Smiley v. State , 300 Ga. 582, 586 (1), 797 S.E.2d 472 (2017).

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State v. Holmes, 820 S.E.2d 26, 304 Ga. 524 (Ga. 2018).

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