WILLIAMS v. THE STATE

Supreme Court of Georgia1999-07-06No. S99A0880

271 Ga. 323519 S.E.2d 232

Summary · law.co

Holding. The trial court's conviction of Williams for armed robbery and felony murder was affirmed, as the evidence was legally sufficient and the prosecution's peremptory strikes were exercised in a race-neutral manner.

Terrance Deron Williams was convicted of armed robbery and felony murder in connection with the death of Willie Murray, Sr. and received a life sentence. The evidence showed that Williams and a co-defendant lay in wait at Murray's home; when Murray came outside, the co-defendant distracted him while Williams approached from behind with a gun, demanded property, and fired when Murray did not immediately comply. The two then took a radio scanner from Murray's van and left the scene.

Williams raised two main arguments on appeal. First, he claimed the trial evidence was legally insufficient to support his convictions. Second, he challenged the prosecution's use of peremptory strikes in jury selection, arguing the strikes violated principles against race-based discrimination. On the sufficiency question, the court found that a reasonable jury could have convicted Williams based on the trial evidence. On the jury selection issue, the court rejected Williams's argument that he was entitled to formally question prosecutors and law enforcement about their investigative methods and information used in selecting jurors, noting that he had other available means to obtain such information through questioning or juror questionnaires.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

Sufficiency of evidence for armed robbery and felony murder conviction
Peremptory challenge procedures and race-neutral application under Batson v. Kentucky
Defendant's right to interrogate prosecutors about jury selection information

Procedural posture

Williams appealed his conviction and sentence of life imprisonment for armed robbery and felony murder.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion · public domain

majority opinion

Hunstein, Justice.

Terrance Deron Williams was convicted of the armed robbery and felony murder of Willie Murray, Sr. and sentenced to life impris onment. He appeals and we affirm.

1. Williams contends the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support his conviction of the underlying felony of armed robbery. Considered in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence introduced at trial shows that in the late evening of May 9, 1997, Williams and co-defendant William Andre Flake lay in wait for Murray at his home. After arriving home, Murray went back outside to retrieve his radio scanner. As Murray stepped outside the house, Flake walked up to distract him, while Williams came from behind, put a gun to Murray’s head, and told him to “give it up.” Williams shot Murray after Murray failed to immediately comply. Williams and Flake then took the radio scanner from Murray’s van and fled. Reviewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the jury’s verdict, we conclude that a rational trier of fact could have found Williams guilty of the crimes charged beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307 (99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979). .

2. Williams contends the trial court violated the spirit of Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U. S. 79 (106 SC 1712, 90 LE2d 69) (1986), in denying his request to question the assistant district attorney and law enforcement officers about investigatory information upon which the State based its strikes. The ultimate burden of persuasion regarding racial motivation of peremptory strikes rests with and never shifts from the opponent of the strike. Purkett v. Elem, 514 U. S. 765 (115 SC 1769, 1771, 131 LE2d 834) (1995). Therefore, in order to prevail on his Batson challenge, Williams had the burden of proving that the State engaged in purposeful discrimination in the exercise of its peremptory strikes. Batson does not require and Williams offers no authority to support his proposition that in order to bolster his prima facie case of discrimination Williams was entitled to formally interrogate the prosecutor or law enforcement officers as to their method of investigating potential jurors or information gleaned from such investigation in order to discover directly the information obtained by the State in preparing for its jury selection. We decline to so hold here. We note that Williams failed to establish that he was unable to obtain the desired information by, e.g., submitting a juror questionnaire or conducting a complete voir dire of potential jurors.

Decided July 6, 1999.

Billy M. Grantham, for appellant.

J. Brown Moseley, District Attorney, Anthony E. Paulsen III, Assistant District Attorney, Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Jeanne K. Strickland, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.

Because the record amply supports the trial court’s finding that the State used its peremptory challenges in a legitimate, race neutral manner, and these findings which are entitled to great deference will not be disturbed unless clearly erroneous, Jackson v. State, 265 Ga. 897, 900 (463 SE2d 699) (1995), we affirm.

Judgment affirmed.

All the Justices concur.

The crimes occurred on May 9, 1997. Williams was indicted by the Calhoun County grand jury on May 27, 1997. The jury returned guilty verdicts on both counts on December 2, 1997. The same day, the trial court merged the armed robbeiy charge with the charge of felony murder and sentenced Williams to life imprisonment. Williams filed a notice of appeal on December 8, 1997. The transcript was certified February 4,1999. The appeal was docketed with this Court on March 18, 1999 and submitted for decision without oral argument.

On December 1, 1997, prior to commencement of trial, Flake entered a guilty plea to charges of voluntary manslaughter and robbery.

The State proffered that it struck the challenged jurors based on information that some had been involved in criminal activity or had prior convictions, while others were struck because of their relationship with Williams or his family. One potential juror was struck because she had been interviewed by police about this case and was identified as a possible witness.