Summary
The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed J’Quante Crews’s convictions arising from the shooting death of Vernon Forrest, rejecting claims concerning juror misconduct and the admission of cell-phone tower testimony. The court vacated the portion of the sentence merging the armed robbery conviction and remanded for resentencing on that count.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether juror misconduct deprived Crews of a fair trial
- Whether the trial court erred in admitting expert testimony from a lay witness
- Whether the trial court erred in sentencing by merging felony murder counts and underlying felonies into the malice murder count
Holdings
- The juror's conduct was not so inherently prejudicial as to require a new trial; she remained impartial and based her decision on the law and evidence.
- Assuming without deciding that admitting the testimony was error, it was harmless because the evidence was largely cumulative of other admissible evidence.
- The trial court erred. The felony murder counts should have been vacated by operation of law, not merged. The underlying felony of armed robbery, which did not merge as a matter of law into the vacated felony murder counts, required a separate sentence.
Key quotations
“the trial court erred with respect to a portion of Crews' sentencing... the trial court is required to vacate that portion of its sentencing order purporting to merge the... independent felon[y] [of armed robbery] and impose [a] proper sentence[ ] on th[at] count[ ].” (at 107)
“there is a presumption of prejudice to the defendant when an irregularity in the conduct of a juror is shown and the burden is on the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that no harm has occurred” (at 108)
Factual background
Crews was with co-indictees at a gas station where they planned to rob the victim, Vernon Forrest. After a co-indictee robbed Forrest at gunpoint, Forrest chased him. Crews made phone calls and drove to the area. Another co-indictee then confronted and fatally shot Forrest in the back. Crews later arrived and picked up the shooter. The evidence showed Crews participated as a party to the crimes.
Procedural history
Crews was convicted after a separate jury trial of malice murder, two felony murders, aggravated assault, armed robbery, and firearm offenses. The trial court purported to merge felony murder and underlying felony counts into the malice murder count for sentencing. Crews moved for a new trial, which was denied. He appealed, challenging convictions on juror misconduct and expert testimony grounds, and challenging the sentencing.
Remand instructions
The case is remanded to the trial court for the imposition of a proper sentence on the armed robbery count.