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Final Copy 286 Ga. 745 S09A1453. KRAUSE v. THE STATE. S09A1454. CHESSER v. THE STATE. Nahmias, Justice. In 2003, a Brantley County jury convicted Krystle Lynn Krause and Jordan Chesser of malice murder and other crimes in connection with the shooting death of Christopher Carver, and the trial court sentenced them to life in prison. Krause and Chesser raise a variety of challenges on appeal. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the convictions, except for Chesser's conviction for felony murder, which is vacated by operation of law.1

Krause and Chesser committed their crimes on June 26, 2002. They were jointly indicted on August 5, 2002, and on September 19, 2003, a Brantley County jury convicted them on all charges at the conclusion of a four-day trial. The trial court sentenced the defendants to life in prison for malice murder, life in prison for felony murder, and five years consecutive for possession of a firearm during commission of a felony. Krause filed a motion for new trial on October 1, 2003, and Chesser filed a motion for new trial on October 15, 2003. Almost five years later, the trial court conducted hearings on Krause and Chesser's motions on May 22, 2008, and August 4, 2008, respectively. The trial court denied Krause's motion on June 17, 2008, but amended her sentence on June 18, 2008, to reflect that the felony murder conviction was vacated by operation of law. See Martinez v. State, 283 Ga. 122, 123 (657 SE2d 199) (2008). Krause filed a timely notice of appeal the same day. Chesser's motion was denied on August 25, 2008. Chesser had already filed a premature notice of appeal on August 19, 2008. See Hall v. State, 282 Ga. 294, 295 (647 SE2d 585) (2007) (treating premature notice of appeal as effective upon entry of order denying motion for new trial). The cases were docketed in this Court on May 14, 2009, and submitted for decision on the briefs.

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Sufficiency of the Evidence 1. The evidence at trial, viewed in the light most favorable to the

verdict, showed as follows. On June 26, 2002, Krause, who was 17, was staying with her boyfriend Chesser, who was 19, at the Brantley County trailer that Krause shared with her father. Krause's father was known locally as "Pill Bill," and Krause sold drugs for him out of the trailer. On the day of the crimes, Krause's father was visiting family in Florida. The victim, Carver, lived two driveways down the road, and he was friends with Krause's father. On the day of the crimes, he was working on Krause's car. He finished his work and left, but he returned to the trailer that afternoon to buy some OxyContin. Krause refused, however, because Carver had no money to pay for the drugs. Carver then left. Shortly thereafter, Krause discovered that her father's OxyContin was missing, and she suspected that Carver had taken it. Krause and Chesser then devised a plan to lure Carver back to the trailer and kill him. They discussed this plan in the presence of two friends, 17-year-old Alyssa Buchan and her boyfriend, 19-year-old James Lawrence Martino.

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Krause called Carver and told him that something was still wrong with her car. Carver returned to the trailer, and Krause confronted him about taking the missing OxyContin, which he denied. Despite the accusation, Carver agreed to work on Krause's car in the workshop behind his house. Carver drove back to his place, and Krause and Chesser followed him a few minutes later after changing into old clothes they could burn later and arming themselves with a small automatic pistol and a miniature baseball bat. They beat Carver savagely with the bat and then killed him with a single gunshot to the back of the neck. Krause and Chesser had difficulty getting Carver's body into the trunk of Krause's car. Krause ran back to the trailer to enlist the help of Buchan and Martino, but they refused. Krause ran back to the Carver residence to assist Chesser, and they eventually succeeded in dragging his body to the car and heaving it into the trunk. They drove to a remote area, where they dumped the body and covered it with tree branches. As they were leaving, Krause's car got stuck in the muddy sand. Krause and Chesser walked to a nearby gas station, where they persuaded two young men to help them pull the car out in exchange for a marijuana cigarette. The two men asked their father for help, and after considerable effort, they freed the 3

vehicle from the muck. Krause and Chesser returned to the trailer, put their clothes in the washing machine, took some drugs, and went to sleep. After refusing to help dispose of the body, Buchan and Martino had left the trailer and gone to Buchan's mother's house. She then drove them to see Carver's stepdaughter, Sarah Bagley, who had recently been Buchan's roommate. Buchan told Bagley what had happened, and Bagley called 911. Buchan told the 911 operator that Krause admitted shooting Carver. Krause and Chesser were arrested without incident a short time later. Krause and Chesser each challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support their convictions, disputing principally which of them fired the fatal shot. Having reviewed the record, we conclude that the evidence adduced at trial, which is summarized above, was sufficient to authorize a rational jury to find Krause and Chesser guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes for which they were convicted, directly or as a party to the crimes. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307, 318-319 (99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979). In addition, questions as to the reasonableness of alternative hypotheses were for the jury to decide, Julius v. State, 286 Ga. 413 (687 SE2d 828) (2010), and the evidence was sufficient to enable the jury to reject every alternative hypothesis 4

of the crimes save that of the guilt of Krause and Chesser. See OCGA

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