Beck v. State

310 Ga. 491

852 S.E.2d 535

BECK

v.The STATE.

S20A1152

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Decided: December 7, 2020

Derek M. Wright, for appellant.

Tasha M. Mosley, District Attorney, Karen S. Barbour, Assistant District Attorney; Christopher M. Carr, Attorney General, Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.

Peterson, Justice.

Dallas Jarvis Beck was convicted of felony murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime in connection with the 2012 shooting death of Corey Liverpool. In Beck's previous appeal to this Court, we remanded the case for the trial court to review his claim that jurors considered extrajudicial information regarding sentencing. The trial court rejected that claim on remand, and Beck appeals again.¹ In addition to raising the juror issue, Beck argues that the trial court erred by refusing to admit various evidence about the victim and by failing to charge the jury on voluntary manslaughter.² Because we defer to the trial court's finding that the testimony about juror misconduct was not credible, we conclude that the court did not abuse its discretion in rejecting Beck's juror misconduct claim. We also conclude that the trial court properly refused to give a jury instruction on voluntary manslaughter because no evidence supported it, and that any error by the trial court in limiting evidence about the victim was harmless. We affirm.

Our previous opinion summarized the trial evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the jury's verdicts, as follows:

On August 26, 2012, Beck and his girlfriend, Lakeya Burroughs, were both present in her apartment at various points throughout the day leading up to the shooting. That evening, two residents of the apartment complex, Grady Lamb and Valeriea Holiday, sat outside watching children and adults play basketball in the parking lot. Corey Liverpool and Burroughs's son were among those playing. During the game, Liverpool accidentally knocked Burroughs's son to the ground. The son then ran to Burroughs and told Burroughs that Liverpool, whom the son called "Uncle Killer," was outside.

Burroughs grabbed Beck's pistol to confront Liverpool, but Beck took it from her before she left the apartment.

Liverpool and Burroughs ended up at the sidewalk between the basketball game and Burroughs's apartment, where they argued. Burroughs yelled and cursed at Liverpool, shoved him, "grabbed at his private area," and spit on him. Lamb and Holiday, who were watching from their porch, testified that Liverpool appeared calm throughout the confrontation and kept his hands by his side.

During the argument, Beck watched from the breezeway wall directly outside of Burroughs's apartment — pistol in his waistband — approximately three to five feet from Liverpool and Burroughs. After Burroughs spit on Liverpool, Liverpool stepped toward her. Beck then pulled his pistol out, came between them, and stated to Liverpool, "I wish you would." Before Liverpool could react, Beck fired his weapon, shooting Liverpool once in his right eye. Liverpool collapsed, and Beck said to Burroughs, "I told you so, I told you so," and fled, throwing his pistol into the woods behind Burroughs's apartment building. Liverpool did not have a weapon.

At trial, Beck admitted to shooting Liverpool, but claimed that he was acting in self-defense and in defense of Burroughs. Burroughs testified that after she spit on Liverpool, she "seen him about to hit me so I closed my eyes," and then heard a shot. Beck claimed that Liverpool raised his hand and seemed to be either pulling a weapon or preparing to strike Burroughs. To support their version of events, Beck and Burroughs testified that they had known, and Burroughs had been friends with, Liverpool for several years; that they knew Liverpool by his nickname, "Killer," and believed him to be dangerous and to carry a pistol at all times; and that they believed Liverpool was out to get Beck because of an incident pertaining to a stolen truck in which Beck was involved. Beck further testified about an incident two days before the shooting that he said contributed to his fear of Liverpool: when Beck was at a bus stop picking up Burroughs's children, Liverpool — who was also there picking up children — flashed a pistol at Beck and made a threatening gesture. Beck claimed that these events led to his fear of Liverpool and prompted him to purchase the pistol that he ultimately used to kill Liverpool.

Beck v. State , 305 Ga. 383, 383-384 (1), 825 S.E.2d 184 (2019).

1. Beck argues that he is entitled to a new trial because jurors considered extrajudicial information regarding punishment to reach their verdicts. We disagree.

Our previous opinion summarized the juror testimony pertinent to the juror issue:

At the motion for new trial hearing, eleven of the twelve jurors testified regarding this issue. [The twelfth juror could not attend the motion for new trial hearing because of medical reasons.] Three jurors, C. C., A. J., and M. H., testified that the jury discussed sentencing during deliberations. C. C. and M. H. testified that the sentencing discussions did not affect their verdicts, but A. J. gave inconsistent testimony on this point. Moreover, when C. C. was asked by defense counsel whether the sentencing information came from other jurors, she responded: "No. No. It was given to us and I don't know, I don't remember who. It was, I don't know whether, I don't know. We, it, nobody brought it, like brought it to court to say hey look what I found. No. But, I cannot remember how that was done. I don't remember." The eight other jurors testified that they did not consider sentencing during deliberations.

Beck , 305 Ga. at 385 (2), 825 S.E.2d 184.

OCGA § 24-6-606 (b) ("Rule 606 (b)") provides:

Upon an inquiry into the validity of a verdict or indictment, a juror shall not testify by affidavit or otherwise nor shall a juror's statements be received in evidence as to any matter or statement occurring during the course of the jury's deliberations or to the effect of anything upon the jury deliberations or any other juror's mind or emotions as influencing the juror to assent to or dissent from the verdict or indictment or concerning the juror's mental processes in connection therewith; provided, however, that a juror may testify on the question of whether extraneous prejudicial information was improperly brought to the juror's attention, whether any outside influence was improperly brought to bear upon any juror, or whether there was a mistake in entering the verdict onto the verdict form.

Rule 606 (b) became effective along with the rest of our Evidence Code in 2013. See Ga. L. 2011, p. 99, § 101. It is borrowed from the Federal Rules of Evidence, so we are guided by decisions of the federal appeals courts, especially the Eleventh Circuit, in construing and applying it. See Beck , 305 Ga. at 385-386 (2), 825 S.E.2d 184. The rule "imposes a nearly categorical bar on juror testimony." Collins v. State , 308 Ga. 608, 611 (2), 842 S.E.2d 811 (2020) (citation and punctuation omitted). Although "a juror may testify to any facts bearing upon the question of the existence of any extraneous influence," the court may not inquire into "the subjective effect of such information on the particular jurors." Beck , 305 Ga. at 387 (2), 825 S.E.2d 184 (citations and punctuation omitted). "Information is deemed extraneous if it derives from a source external to the jury." Id. (citations and punctuation omitted). We review a trial court's decision that juror testimony is inadmissible for an abuse of discretion. See Collins , 308 Ga. at 611-612 (2), 842 S.E.2d 811.

In its initial order denying the motion for new trial, the trial court relied expressly on C. C.’s and M. H.’s testimony that the sentencing discussions did not affect their verdicts and also on its finding that A. J.’s testimony about sentencing discussions affecting her verdict was not credible. See Beck , 305 Ga. at 385 (2), 825 S.E.2d 184. In our March 2019 decision disposing of Beck's earlier appeal, we noted that the parties had not briefed the meaning of the new Rule 606 (b) before the trial court or on appeal and that the trial court had not applied the new rule in addressing the jury misconduct issue. See id. at 386 (2), 825 S.E.2d 184. In particular, we noted that "although the trial court determined that Juror A. J.’s testimony was not credible, it made no finding about Juror C. C.’s credibility and made no finding as to whether ‘extraneous prejudicial information’ was, in fact, brought before the jurors." Id. at 386-387 (2), 825 S.E.2d 184. Instead of following the guidelines set forth in Rule 606 (b), we noted, the trial court relied on juror testimony about internal jury deliberations — which generally is barred by Rule 606 (b) and may not be used in determining whether extraneous information is prejudicial — to conclude that even if extraneous information came before the jury, it was not prejudicial. See id. at 387 (2), 825 S.E.2d 184. We remanded the case so that the trial court could apply the correct rule. See id.

On remand, the trial court found that any testimony suggesting that any juror discussed sentencing during deliberations was not credible. The trial court concluded that "no external information regarding sentencing was provided to the jury by any outside source during deliberations" and that "the substance of [C. C.]’s subjective impressions regarding the remainder of her deliberations, including any sentence to be imposed, falls within the prohibited inquiry of OCGA § 24-6-606 (b)." The court also found that even assuming A. J. had attempted to engage other jurors in discussions regarding sentencing, any such attempted discussions were not shown to be the result of any juror's independent research of the law or gathering of evidence, and there was no discussion about sentencing between a juror and non-juror. The court...