Find Laws Find Lawyers Free Legal Forms USA State Laws
Laws-info.com » Cases » Georgia » Supreme Court of Georgia » 2011 » S10A1709. BROWN v. THE STATE
S10A1709. BROWN v. THE STATE
State: Georgia
Court: Supreme Court
Docket No: S10A1709
Case Date: 03/25/2011
Preview:Final Copy 288 Ga. 902 S10A1709. BROWN v. THE STATE. NAHMIAS, Justice. Rasheed Brown appeals his convictions for felony murder and other crimes in connection with the shooting death of Antonio Moore. We affirm.1 1. The evidence at trial, viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict,

showed the following. Around 10:30 p.m. on the evening of July 10, 1998, Brown and his best friend D'Antonius Owens were at the victim's apartment smoking marijuana with the victim. The mother of the victim's girlfriend stopped by and offered to pay Brown and Owens to help her move a piece of furniture. Owens agreed to help, and Brown said that he would go along to keep Owens company. Brown and Owens got into the woman's van, and she drove to a gas station a couple blocks away. In the van, either Brown or Owens said that he needed to get some money. As the woman was preparing to leave the gas station, the two men jumped out
The crimes occurred on July 10, 1998, and Brown and his accomplice, D'Antonius Owens, were arrested three weeks later. On January 26, 1999, Brown was indicted in Fulton County for malice murder, two counts of felony murder, the predicate felonies of armed robbery and aggravated assault, and kidnapping. On February 2, 2001, at the conclusion of a four-day trial, the jury acquitted Brown of malice murder but found him guilty of the remaining charges. The trial court sentenced Brown to life in prison for felony murder plus 20 years consecutive for kidnapping; the other convictions merged for sentencing purposes. Brown filed a motion for new trial on February 26, 2001. After the appointment of new counsel, Brown amended his motion for new trial on March 13 and April 22, 2009. After an April 24, 2009 hearing, the trial court summarily denied the motion on March 16, 2010. Brown filed a timely notice of appeal on March 22, 2010. The case was docketed in this Court for the September 2010 Term and submitted for decision on the briefs. Owens was tried after Brown, and his convictions for armed robbery and kidnapping were affirmed by the Court of Appeals. See Owens v. State, 263 Ga. App. 478, 478 (588 SE2d 265) (2003).
1

of the van without a word and ran back toward the victim's apartment. The woman could see that Brown had a large gun tucked under his t-shirt as he ran away. Back at the victim's apartment, Brown knocked on the door while Owens sat on the steps a few feet away. The victim's girlfriend looked out the peephole, saw Brown, and opened the door, but she did not unlock the burglar bar door. Owens asked if they had found his pager, which he claimed to have lost. The victim's girlfriend looked around the apartment but did not find the pager, and when she asked if Owens wanted her to call it so that it would ring or vibrate to help him find it, Owens declined. Brown and Owens then walked away but waited near the apartment. A minute or two later, at 11:15 p.m., the victim came outside. Brown and Owens asked him for a ride, which he agreed to give them. The victim drove to a dark street a little over a mile away. He then stopped the car in the middle of the street and walked behind some bushes at the edge of Brandon Robbins's back yard. Robbins heard someone arguing with the victim. Seconds later, Robbins heard multiple gunshots in rapid succession. Robbins ducked for cover, but he looked up in time to see a man run back to the victim's car and jump in before the car sped off. Robbins later identified that man as Brown in a photographic lineup. Robbins went to check on the victim, while Robbins's relatives placed a call to 911 at

11:23 p.m. Brown was dead by the time Robbins reached him. He had been shot ten times, including five shots to the head, any one of which would have killed him. The police questioned Brown three days after the shooting. Brown admitted that the victim had given him and Owens a ride that night but claimed that they were dropped off a couple hours before the victim was killed. Brown pointed the finger at a third man that he and Owens knew, saying that when the victim stopped for gas, the man pulled up in his car with a couple of friends and, when the victim indicated that he was headed to a nightclub, said that he and his friends would follow the victim there. The police questioned Owens's girlfriend eight days after the shooting. Shortly before the police talked to her, Brown and Owens convinced her to lie and tell the police that they were with her at her apartment from 10:30 to 11:00 p.m. on the night of the shooting, leaving insufficient time for them to have killed the victim at approximately 11:23 p.m. Brown supplied her with details to make the story more credible. Owens's girlfriend followed the plan at first, but on further questioning, she admitted that she had been lying, that Brown and Owens were not with her that night, and that they had told her what to say to the police. After arrest warrants were issued for Brown and Owens, Brown, accompanied by counsel, gave a second statement to the police. Brown admitted that he had lied in his
2

first statement and made up the story about the man at the gas station who said he was going to follow the victim to a club. Brown claimed that Owens had told him what to say to the police to provide both of them with an alibi. Brown now claimed that while he was in the victim's car, Owens unexpectedly pulled out a gun and forced him to drive to where the victim was killed. Brown said that he waited in the car while Owens marched the victim behind the bushes at gunpoint before shooting him repeatedly and running back to the car. Brown maintained that he had no prior knowledge of Owens's plan to rob and murder the victim. When viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence presented at trial and summarized above was sufficient to authorize a rational jury to find Brown guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes for which he was convicted. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307, 319 (99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979). See also OCGA
Download S10A1709. BROWN v. THE STATE.pdf

Georgia Law

Georgia State Laws
Georgia Court
Georgia State
    > Georgia Counties
Georgia Tax
Georgia Labor Laws
    > Georgia Unemployment
Georgia Agencies
    > Georgia DMV

Comments

Tips