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Final Copy 289 Ga. 359 S11A0348. WATKINS v. THE STATE.

NAHMIAS, Justice. Robert Watkins appeals from his convictions and sentences for the malice murder of Yan Sing Ku, the aggravated assault of Guadalupe Parilla, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.1 We affirm. 1. The evidence at trial, viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, showed that at 10:45 p.m. on April 21, 2006, Watkins, Colton Williams, Marcus Brown, Terrance Coleman, Maya Keating, and Christina Pascarella parked outside the China Wok restaurant on Delk Road. At Watkins' direction,

Pascarella and Keating went inside the restaurant to see how many people were

The crimes occurred on April 21, 2006. On July 6, 2006, a Cobb County grand jury indicted Watkins and five co-defendants for the malice murder, felony murder (two counts), and aggravated assault of Yan, for the aggravated assault of Parilla, for conspiracy to commit armed robbery, and for the possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. After a joint trial, a jury found Watkins guilty on all counts on April 25, 2007. The trial court sentenced Watkins to life in prison for the malice murder conviction and to consecutive terms of years in prison for the conspiracy, aggravated assault of Parilla, and firearm convictions. The felony murder convictions were vacated as a matter of law, and the court merged the conviction for the aggravated assault of Yan into the malice murder conviction. On May 4, 2007, Watkins filed a motion for new trial, which he amended on April 10, 2008. The trial court denied the motion on September 4, 2009, and Watkins filed a timely notice of appeal. The case was docketed to the January 2011 Term of this Court and was submitted for decision on the briefs.

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there. They saw no other customers, and after purchasing a drink, they returned to the car and told Watkins. Armed with handguns, Watkins and Williams then went through the back door of the restaurant into the kitchen, where they encountered Parilla, who worked as a cook. One of the robbers demanded money from Parilla, who said he did not have any. Yan, who was also a cook, then walked into the kitchen and was immediately shot by the other robber. The robber who initially demanded money from Parilla demanded money again, and when Parilla again said he did not have any, the man shot him. Yan died from his injuries; Parilla, who was shot in the arm, survived. When Watkins and Williams arrived back at the car, Watkins told the group that he thought he had killed someone and that "if anybody told anybody about what had happened that he would kill them all and kill their family." After the shooting, Brown called his mother, Marlynn Mays, asking for help. Brown said he was with Watkins and told his mother that he was in trouble and that she needed to watch the news. After Ms. Mays saw that there had been a shooting, she called her son, who said that he and his co-defendants were "riding around" looking for drugs. Brown told his mother that Watkins and Williams went into a building and that he heard two gunshots. When Watkins returned, he told

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Brown that "he thought he killed somebody." Brown later told his mother that Watkins and Williams "went in and robbed the China Wok and killed somebody." Ms. Mays contacted the police. In a statement to the police, Watkins admitted that he entered the restaurant with a .25 caliber handgun to rob it, but he claimed that he "heard gunshots and left the restaurant." Williams gave a similar statement to the police. 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 Watkins 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 Vega v. State, 285 Ga. 32, 33 (673 SE2d 223) (2009) ("`It was for the jury to determine the credibility of the witnesses and to resolve any conflicts or inconsistencies in the evidence.'" (citation omitted)). 2. (a) Watkins contends that the State engaged in unconstitutional gender-based discrimination by using seven of its eight peremptory strikes against women. See J. E. B. v. Alabama, 511 U. S. 127 (114 SC 1419, 128 LE2d 89) (1994).2 "The challenging party makes out a prima facie case of purposeful

We reject the State's assertion that Watkins is procedurally barred from raising these jury selection issues on appeal. The record shows that Watkins joined in a co-defendant's motion

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discrimination by showing that the totality of the relevant facts gives rise to an inference of discriminatory purpose." Livingston v. State, 271 Ga. 714, 718 (524 SE2d 222) (1999) (citations and punctuation omitted). Here, the record shows that the jury consisted of ten women (83%), that the percentage of women on the jury was 15% higher than the percentage of possible female jurors from which the jury was chosen (19 of the 28 potential jurors who were subject to peremptory strikes were women), and that the prosecutor accepted about 60% of the potential female jurors. See 6 LaFave, Israel, King & Kerr, Criminal Procedure,

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