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Final Copy 290 Ga. 467 S11A1492. WALKER v. THE STATE.

MELTON, Justice. Following a jury trial, Ernest Lee Walker appeals his convictions for malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, possession of a knife during the commission of a crime, and cruelty to children in the third degree,1 contending that the trial court erred in admitting certain incriminating statements made by him to the State's psychiatric expert. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

On August 24, 2007, Walker was indicted for malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, possession of a knife during the commission of a felony, and two counts of cruelty to children in the second degree. Following a jury trial, Walker was convicted on all counts, except the jury found him guilty of the lesser crime of cruelty to children in the third degree. Thereafter, Walker was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, five consecutive years to the murder count for possession of a knife, and one year concurrent with possession of a knife for cruelty to children. The conviction for felony murder was vacated by operation of law, see Malcolm v. State, 263 Ga. 369 (4) (434 SE2d 479) (1993), and the remaining charges were merged with the conviction for malice murder. On November 9, 2009, Walker filed a motion for new trial, amended on May 17, 2010. The amended motion was denied on June 17, 2010, and following Walker's filing of a timely notice of appeal, this case was docketed to the September 2011 term of this Court and submitted for decision on the briefs.
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1. In the light most favorable to the verdict, the facts show that Walker and his two minor nephews were staying with Walker's mother, Katherine Fountain. On the evening of June 19, 2007, while in Fountain's kitchen, Fountain and Walker began to argue about Walker's sloppiness around the house. During the argument, Walker punched Fountain in the face, and Fountain retreated to a back bedroom to call police. At the same time, Walker went to his own bedroom and retrieved a knife. While on the phone with the 911 operator, Fountain returned to the kitchen. Walker then snuck behind her and stabbed Fountain in the back nineteen times, all while Walker's two minor nephews watched and pleaded for Walker to stop. Soon thereafter, police entered the home and apprehended Walker, who was still holding the knife in his hand. Fountain later died from her stab wounds. At trial, Walker called Dr. Kevin Richards to testify about Walker's mental condition at the time of the crime. Dr. Richards determined that Walker suffered from a persecutory delusional disorder which caused him to believe that there were forces aligned against him and that his mother wanted to harm him or cause other people to harm him. Dr. Richards testified that Walker's persecutory delusion might cause him to perceive a greater threat from his
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mother than actually existed. As provided in OCGA

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