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S12A0948. HILL v. THE STATE
State: Georgia
Court: Supreme Court
Docket No: S12A0948
Case Date: 05/29/2012
Preview:Final Copy 291 Ga. 160 S12A0948. HILL v. THE STATE. CARLEY, Presiding Justice. After a jury trial, Lavar Anthony Hill was found guilty of the felony murder of Jarvis Lewis during the commission of aggravated assault, a separate count charging that underlying felony, possession of marijuana, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. The trial court merged the aggravated assault count into the felony murder verdict, entered judgments of conviction on the remaining guilty verdicts, and sentenced Hill to life imprisonment for felony murder, a concurrent ten-year term for the drug offense, and a consecutive five-year term for the weapons offense. A motion for new trial was denied, and he appeals.*

The crimes occurred on September 21, 2007, and the grand jury returned an indictment on June 29, 2010. The jury found Hill guilty on July 12, 2010, and the judgments of conviction and sentences were entered on July 13, 2010 and corrected on July 15, 2010. The motion for new trial was filed on July 16, 2010, amended on April 15, 2011, and denied on October 25, 2011. Hill filed the notice of appeal on November 9, 2011. The case was docketed in this Court for the April 2012 term and was orally argued on May 8, 2012.
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1. Construed most strongly in support of the verdicts, the evidence shows that Hill and two others smoked some marijuana and then went with the victim to watch a movie in an apartment. Subsequently, the victim and his girlfriend Vonica Brown went into a bathroom and loudly argued. Sarah Chavez-Hopkins went to the bathroom door and told them to calm down. Hill then burst through the door, attacked the victim, pulled a gun from his pocket, and shot the victim four times. When police arrived, the victim was lying outside the apartment and told a detective that Hill did it. The victim subsequently died of the gunshot wounds. The gun used to shoot the victim was found behind a bush near two small bags of marijuana. A knife was found near the victim, medical testimony showed that Hill received a stab wound and a laceration, and Hill claimed selfdefense, testifying that the victim attacked him with a knife while Ms. ChavezHopkins told the victim to stop stabbing him. However, in admitting the shooting to a friend, Hill explained that he had "snapped," and both Ms. Brown and Ms. Chavez-Hopkins testified that they saw Hill pull the gun but never saw the victim with a knife. The evidence was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find Hill guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes for which he was

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convicted. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307 (99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979); McNeil v. State, 284 Ga. 586, 588 (1) (669 SE2d 111) (2008). 2. Hill contends that the trial court erred in failing to administer the oath to the trial jury required by OCGA
Download S12A0948. HILL v. THE STATE.pdf

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