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Final Copy 287 Ga. 793

S10A1063. TURNER v. THE STATE.

CARLEY, Presiding Justice.

After a jury trial, Appellant Michael James Turner was found guilty of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. Treating the felony murder verdict as surplusage, the trial court sentenced Appellant to life imprisonment for malice murder, a concurrent term of twenty years imprisonment for the aggravated assault offense and a consecutive term of five years for the weapons charge. Appellant appeals after the denial of a motion for new trial.*

The crimes occurred on July 12, 2007, and the grand jury returned the indictment on February 4, 2008. The jury found Appellant guilty on December 10, 2008, and the trial court entered the judgments of conviction and sentences on December 18, 2008. The motion for new trial was filed on December 31, 2008, amended on November 5, 2009, and denied on January 4, 2010. Appellant filed the notice of appeal on January 12, 2010. The case was docketed in this Court for the April 2010 term and orally argued on June 14, 2010.
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1. Construed most strongly in support of the verdicts, the evidence shows that, in the early morning of July 12, 2007, Appellant confronted his wife Teresa Buckner Turner in her car on her way to work. During the course of an argument, Appellant shot Ms. Turner and then fled from the scene. Ms. Turner's body was found in Spalding County shortly afterwards by the police, who were eventually directed to her current address, at which they found Appellant. After being notified of his wife's death, Appellant accompanied the police to the Spalding County Sheriff's Office and was placed in an interview room. After approximately eight hours of questioning, Appellant made oral and written statements confessing to the shooting and killing of his wife. In his confession, Appellant admitted to using a six-shot .38 Magnum revolver. A medical examination confirmed that the victim was shot six times, and four bullets removed from the victim were determined to be fired from the same .38 Magnum revolver. After his confession, Appellant returned to the scene of the crime with the police to show them where he had thrown the murder weapon. The evidence was sufficient for a rational trier of fact to find Appellant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes for which he was convicted. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307 (99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979).
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2. Appellant claims that his statements to police were improperly admitted into evidence because they were induced by a hope of benefit and fear of injury, in violation of OCGA

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