Dublin v. State

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Questions Presented

1. Whether trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to hearsay testimony from Kristina Watson and Judy Cronan.
2. Whether the trial court erred by admitting Tonya Dupree's hearsay testimony despite the State's alleged failure to independently establish a conspiracy and despite alleged unreliability.
3. Whether trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to a detective's testimony that Dublin and his girlfriend initially showed no willingness to speak with police.
4. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by denying a mistrial after a co-defendant alluded to Dublin's prior discussions about robbing someone.
5. Whether the evidence was legally sufficient to support Dublin's convictions.
6. Whether the trial court erred by merging the aggravated assault with intent to rob count into the felony-murder conviction.

Holdings

1. Counsel was not ineffective because an objection to Watson's and Cronan's testimony would have been futile; the statements were admissible under Georgia's co-conspirator exception to the hearsay rule.
2. The trial court did not err in admitting Dupree's hearsay testimony because the State established the existence of the conspiracy by a preponderance of the evidence and no additional reliability showing was required for Confrontation Clause purposes as to the nontestimonial statements.
3. Dublin failed to establish ineffective assistance because, even assuming counsel performed deficiently by failing to object, he did not show a reasonable probability that the detective's isolated remark affected the outcome.
4. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying a mistrial because its prompt curative instruction sufficiently eliminated the prejudicial effect of the witness's vague reference to prior discussions about robbing someone.
5. The evidence was legally sufficient to support convictions for felony murder, aggravated assault with intent to rob, aggravated assault with a firearm, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
6. The aggravated assault with intent to rob count does not merge into felony murder predicated on aggravated assault with a deadly weapon because each offense requires proof of an element the other does not; the judgment was therefore vacated in part and the case remanded for sentencing on that count.

Key quotations

Factual background

Dublin, Darnell Mitchell, Dewayne Reynolds, and others gathered on New Year's Eve in 2012 and discussed robbing Terry Slack, who was later fatally shot. Dublin admitted possessing the Glock used in the shooting, accompanying Reynolds toward Slack's home, disposing of the gun afterward, and asking his girlfriend to lie to police. Witness testimony conflicted about whether Dublin or Reynolds fired the shot, but multiple witnesses placed Dublin with the group and described discussions about the robbery, the shooting, concealment, and alibis.

Procedural history

Dublin was indicted on February 21, 2014, for malice murder, felony murder, two aggravated assaults, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Following a February 2015 jury trial, he was acquitted of malice murder and convicted of the remaining offenses. The trial court sentenced him on March 17, 2015, merging both aggravated-assault counts into felony murder. The trial court denied his amended motion for new trial on July 5, 2016, and Dublin appealed. The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed the convictions in part, vacated the judgment in part because of the erroneous merger of the aggravated assault with intent to rob count, and remanded for sentencing on that count.

Remand instructions

Vacate the judgment in part and remand for the trial court to enter a sentence on the aggravated assault with intent to rob count, which was erroneously merged into felony murder.