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Final Copy 290 Ga. 342 S11A1886. CARRUTH v. THE STATE.

THOMPSON, Justice. Appellant Terrence Carruth was convicted of malice murder and other related offenses in connection with the stabbing death of Kyrief Mosby, and aggravated stalking of Loretta Potter.1 On appeal, Carruth asserts, inter alia, that he was denied effective assistance of trial counsel. Finding no error, we affirm. Viewed in a light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence shows that Loretta Potter ("Potter") and Carruth had been in a physical relationship for four years beginning in the summer of 2003. In 2005, Potter and Carruth moved in with Potter's sister, Tanya Potter ("Tanya"), and the couple lived there for about a year. They subsequently moved to their own apartment because Carruth and
On May 8, 2008, a DeKalb County grand jury returned an indictment charging Carruth with malice murder, felony murder while in the commission of an aggravated assault, and aggravated assault in connection with the stabbing death of Kyrief Mosby, and aggravated stalking of Loretta Potter in violation of a probation order prohibiting Carruth from having contact with Potter. The crimes occurred on February 6, 2008. Trial commenced on August 10, 2009, and on August 14, 2009, a jury found Carruth guilty as charged. On the same day, Carruth received a life sentence for malice murder plus ten years consecutive for aggravated stalking. The remaining convictions were merged and vacated by operation of law under Malcolm v. State. 263 Ga. 369 (434 SE2d 479) (1993). Carruth filed a motion for a new trial on September 10, 2009, which he amended on May 17, 2010 and April 12, 2011. The motion as amended was denied on June 20, 2011. Carruth filed a timely notice of appeal. The case was docketed to the September 2011 term of this Court. Oral argument was heard on November 8, 2011.
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Tanya did not get along. In May 2007, after accusing Potter of having a relationship with another man, Carruth attacked her in their apartment. On this occasion, he choked and punched her while dragging her from room to room and threatening to inject her with a syringe filled with cleaning fluids. Potter was able to escape and notify the police. As a result, Carruth was arrested and ultimately pled guilty to charges in Rockdale County stemming from that incident. He was sentenced to a period of incarceration and, as a special condition of probation, was prohibited from having any contact with Potter. When Carruth was released from jail, he nonetheless contacted Potter, and they resumed their relationship. At that time, Potter was living with Tanya and Tanya's boyfriend, Mosby, the murder victim. Tanya and Mosby refused to allow Carruth to visit Potter at their home. A few days before Mosby was killed, Potter was at Carruth's apartment. He became angry with her because she refused to take a trip with him, and he punished her by covering her mouth with duct tape and binding her hands. Potter convinced Carruth to let her go, and she returned to her sister's home. Potter did not report the incident to the police. The evening before the murder, Carruth showed up outside a convenience
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store where Potter was working, and he observed her through a window. As a result, Potter had her work location changed to a different convenience store in the area. In the hours leading up to the stabbing, Carruth placed multiple calls and text messages to Potter's phone. Potter responded in a text message that she would not communicate with him any longer. Carruth showed up at Potter's new work location and motioned through the window for her to come outside. When she refused, he entered the store and asked to talk to her. Her co-workers shielded her, and he ultimately left. Surveillance video captured the scene. Potter then called the police and also asked Tanya to come to the store with documentation of the no contact order to show to the police. Mosby

accompanied Tanya to the convenience store with the document Potter requested. However, the officer refused to seek an arrest because the document Potter produced was a letter from the county victim/witness assistance program, and not an official court document. Minutes later, as Tanya and Mosby returned home, Carruth ambushed Mosby in their driveway pushing him against the side of the house and stabbing him repeatedly. Tanya was able to get into the house, and Carruth fled from the scene. Police retrieved a distinctive knife near the house which Potter later
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identified as belonging to Carruth. Mosby sustained 18 knife wounds, including a fatal wound to the neck and thorax. Potter was taken in a patrol car to the scene of the stabbing. During the ride there, she received text messages and calls from Carruth. At one point, she handed her phone to the officer who heard Carruth say, "Go pick up what I left behind. I'm on my way to New York." 1. The evidence was sufficient for a rational trier of fact to find Carruth 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). 2. Carruth testified at trial and maintained that he acted in self-defense. In an effort to support this theory, he offered testimony from the wife of a friend who stated on direct that Carruth came to her home early one morning around the time of the 2008 Super Bowl game (although this was intended to coincide with the night of the stabbing, no date was specified). On cross-examination, the State elicited from the witness that Carruth told her he had injured someone. On re-direct, the witness testified Carruth was "shaken up," "hysterical," and bleeding from his right hand. When asked whether Carruth told her anything, the witness began, "He had went to visit one of his friends and . . . ." The State
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objected on hearsay grounds. Defense counsel responded that the testimony was admissible as a prior consistent statement. The court sustained the State's hearsay objection. On re-direct, defense counsel again attempted to ask the witness her "understanding" of what happened that night, and the court again sustained an objection from the State. On appeal, Carruth asserts that the trial court violated OCGA

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