Taylor v. State

805 S.E.2d 851, 302 Ga. 176
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedOctober 2, 2017
DocketS17A1033
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 805 S.E.2d 851 (Taylor 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
Taylor v. State, 805 S.E.2d 851, 302 Ga. 176 (Ga. 2017).

Opinion

BENHAM, Justice.

Appellant Mark Antonio Taylor appeals his convictions related to the death of Charles Ernest Weaver.1 In the early morning hours of December 28, 2012, appellant was wandering around Hall County, [177]*177trying to figure out a way to get back to Atlanta.2 He entered the parking lot of a car dealership where he came across a truck, which had its engine running and its lights on. Seeing no one around, appellant entered the vehicle and began driving it in reverse. The victim, who worked at the dealership, attempted to stop appellant from stealing the truck by pulling out a pocket knife and dialing the police on his cell phone. Appellant got out of the truck, pulled out a gun and forced the victim to drop his knife and cell phone. Appellant then forced the victim to walk toward the building and shot the victim once. The victim attempted to run away and hide inside the building, but appellant followed him and shot him a second time. Appellant then fled in the truck, taking the victim’s cell phone and pocket knife with him. A significant portion of appellant’s encounter with the victim was caught on the dealership’s video surveillance system. The victim was found deceased by a co-worker. The medical examiner testified the victim died from a bullet that entered and exited his arm and then re-entered his body through his chest, damaging his lungs and a major artery to his heart such that he bled to death.

Police tracked the stolen vehicle to an apartment complex in Atlanta, used the apartment’s surveillance system to link appellant to the truck, and found appellant in an apartment with some of his relatives. Inside the apartment, police recovered the victim’s knife and appellant’s Hi-Point .45 caliber handgun, which was determined to be the murder weapon. They also found the victim’s cell phone in the truck. As he was being arrested, appellant kept repeating “Yeah, I did it” and “I killed him.” During his trial testimony, appellant admitted the victim was unarmed both times he shot him.

1. The evidence summarized above was sufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find appellant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes for which the jury returned verdicts of guilty Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307 (99 SCt 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979).

2. Appellant complains that trial counsel’s questioning of prospective jurors was too brief to be effective and contends counsel should have moved to strike three jurors for cause. In order to prevail on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, appellant

must show counsel’s performance was deficient and that the deficient performance prejudiced him to the point that a reasonable probability exists that, but for counsel’s errors, [178]*178the outcome of the trial would have been different. A strong presumption exists that counsel’s conduct falls within the broad range of professional conduct.

(Citation and punctuation omitted.) Pruitt v. State, 282 Ga. 30 (4) (644 SE2d 837) (2007). If a defendant fails to meet his burden on one prong of the two-prong test, then the other prong need not be reviewedby the Court. Wright v. State, 291 Ga. 869 (2) (734 SE2d 876) (2012). The content of trial counsel’s voir dire of the jury venire can be a matter of trial strategy and, if within the broad range of reasonable professional assistance, will not sustain a claim that counsel was constitutionally ineffective. See Ford v. State, 298 Ga. 560 (8) (a) (783 SE2d 906) (2016); Cade v. State, 289 Ga. 805 (4) (716 SE2d 196) (2011); Morgan v. State, 276 Ga. 72 (9) (575 SE2d 468) (2003). Likewise, the decision as to which jurors to strike is a strategic decision that, if reasonable, will not support an allegation that counsel’s performance was deficient. See Brown v. State, 301 Ga. 728 (4) (804 SE2d 16) (2017); Simpson v. State, 298 Ga. 314 (4) (781 SE2d 762) (2016); Lockhart v. State, 298 Ga. 384 (2) (782 SE2d 245) (2016).

At the motion for new trial hearing, trial counsel testified that once the prosecutor completed her voir dire, there were not many questions that needed to be asked of the prospective jurors. He also testified that appellant assisted with jury selection and any decisions made as to juror strikes were strategic in nature. For example, in reference to Juror 41, who was a domestic violence victim and stated she “did not know” whether her experience would impact her ability to be fair, trial counsel said he decided not to move to strike her because he believed she might be sympathetic to appellant. Our review of the transcript reveals that none of the jurors who were seated on the jury expressed an opinion during voir dire that was so fixed that they could not be fair and impartial.3 Counsel’s performance was not deficient and, accordingly, appellant’s claim of ineffective assistance must fail.

3. Prior to trial, the State sought admission of evidence that appellant’s girlfriend expelled him from her car because he punched her in the face. The trial court ruled that the details of the fight were irrelevant and the parties agreed that the only information that [179]*179would be provided to the jury was that, a day before the shooting, appellant was expelled from his girlfriend’s car because of a fight. At trial, appellant took the stand and testified as follows on direct examination:

Q: Did [you and your girlfriend] get into an argument that day?
A: Yes, we did.
Q: And were you riding with her?
A: Yes, I was.
Q: And what happened after [you all] got into an argument?
A: Well, when we got in an argument, I told her necessarily I didn’t want to fight with her, and she put me out of the car.

Immediately prior to its cross-examination of appellant and outside the presence of the jury, the State argued it was entitled to question appellant about the reasons he was expelled from his girlfriend’s car because appellant was dishonest when he testified, “I told her necessarily I didn’t want to fight with her, and she put me out of the car.” Over appellant’s objection, the trial court ruled the prosecutor could cross-examine appellant as to whether he had fought with his girlfriend. Upon this ruling, the prosecutor asked appellant whether he physically fought with his girlfriend and, in response, appellant stated that he and his girlfriend had hit each other. When the prosecutor asked whether the girlfriend had any injuries, counsel objected, but the trial court allowed that line of questioning to proceed. Counsel posited another objection when the prosecutor asked whether appellant was aware his girlfriend had called the police. At that point, the parties conferred outside the presence of the jury, and defense counsel moved for a mistrial. The trial court denied the motion for mistrial, instructed the prosecutor to stay away from any questions regarding whether the girlfriend called the police,4 and then informed the jury that defense counsel’s last objection had been sustained. The prosecutor moved on to another line of questioning. During its closing, the prosecutor referenced the altercation without any objection from defense counsel.

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

Related

David Rubio v. State
Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2025
King v. State
889 S.E.2d 851 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2023)
Moore v. State
882 S.E.2d 227 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2022)
Wynn v. State
874 S.E.2d 42 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2022)
Emery Parrish v. State
Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2022
Darius Rashun Campbell v. State
Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2021
Lopez v. State
852 S.E.2d 547 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2020)
Dunbar v. State
845 S.E.2d 607 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2020)
Corley v. State
840 S.E.2d 391 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2020)
Anderson v. State
307 Ga. 79 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2019)
Hills v. State
306 Ga. 800 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2019)
PATTERSON v. the STATE.
829 S.E.2d 796 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2019)
HANDY v. the STATE.
829 S.E.2d 635 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2019)
BOYD v. the STATE.
829 S.E.2d 163 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2019)
Thompson v. State
304 Ga. 146 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2018)
Bozzie v. State
808 S.E.2d 671 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2017)
Taylor v. State
Supreme Court of Georgia, 2017

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
805 S.E.2d 851, 302 Ga. 176, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/taylor-v-state-ga-2017.