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In the Supreme Court of Georgia

Decided: March 18, 2013

S12A1671. SMITH v. THE STATE. HINES, Justice. Anthony Terrell Smith appeals his convictions and sentences for malice murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a weapon at a public gathering, which were in connection with the shooting death of Romondez Lashan Lester. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.1 Construed to support the verdicts, the evidence showed that Lester had an argument inside a nightclub, and during the evening, a physical altercation also

The crimes occurred on June 4, 2000. On July 25, 2000, a Sumter County grand jury indicted Smith and Elliot Stephens for malice murder, felony murder while in the commission of aggravated assault, aggravated assault, and possession of a weapon at a public gathering; Stephens was also indicted for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Smith was tried alone before a jury September 18-20, 2001, and found guilty of all charges. On September 25, 2001, he was sentenced to life in prison for malice murder, and a concurrent term of twelve months in prison for possession of a weapon at a public gathering; the remaining counts merged with the malice murder or were vacated by operation of law. See Malcolm v. State, 263 Ga. 369, 371-372 (4), (5) (434 SE2d 479) (1993). Smith moved for a new trial on October 17, 2001, and amended the motion on June 22, 2010; the trial court entered an order denying the motion for new trial, as amended, on October 18, 2010. On November 15, 2010, Smith filed a notice of appeal, and on April 19, 2011, filed a motion for an out-of-time appeal. The trial court entered an order granting an out-of-time appeal on April 26, 2011. That same day, Smith filed a notice of appeal; the appeal was docketed in this Court for the September 2012 term, and submitted for decision on the briefs.

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occurred. The club closed and the patrons left through the front door; as they did so, a brawl ensued outside. Stephens, a friend of Smith's, was outside the club; he had a .22 caliber revolver. Several people were fighting, and Smith was fighting with Lester; Smith took Stephens's revolver. The fight continued, and Lester struck Smith and taunted him. Smith pointed the revolver at Lester who continued to taunt him. Smith pulled the trigger of the revolver multiple times; it failed to fire at least twice, and fired twice. Lester was fatally struck in the chest. Smith, Stephens, and some other people ran from the scene, and Smith gave the revolver to Johnny Laney who removed the cylinder, hiding it and the remainder of the revolver in separate places. 1. The evidence authorized the jury to find Smith 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. During direct examination of a crime scene investigator, Special Agent Davis of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the State asked numerous questions regarding the parking area outside the club. The trial court asked the State, "are you going to tie in how this is relevant to the issues in this case pretty
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soon?" The State answered that it was "just trying to project to the jury the general size and location of the properties." The court responded: Okay. Because my experience is that Special Agent Davis is a very thorough investigator, and I don't think that everything he found that day is relevant to the issues of this case, and I don't want to have to require him to testify about everything he learned. I'd like for you just to kind of narrow it to those things that he learned that really bear on the issues in this case. The State answered, "I will, your honor," and proceeded to ask Davis about items found at the crime scene. Smith contends that the court's statement that "Special Agent Davis is a very thorough investigator" constituted an opinion on the veracity of a witness, and thus an expression as to what might be proved by the evidence, in violation of OCGA

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