Gardhigh v. State

309 Ga. 153

844 S.E.2d 821

GARDHIGH

v.The STATE.

The State

v.Gardhigh.

S20A0227

S20X0228

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Decided: June 16, 2020

Jonathan Ross Hamrick, Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Public Defender, 12F 4th Ave, Suite #10, Rome, Georgia 30161, Attorneys for the Appellant S20A0227.

Luke Anthony Martin, A.D.A., Leigh Ellen Patterson, District Attorney, Floyd County District Attorney's Office, 3 Government Plaza, Suite 108, Rome, Georgia 30161, Christopher M. Carr, Attorney General, Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula Khristian Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Department of Law, 40 Capitol Square, S.W., Atlanta, Georgia 30334, Attorneys for the Appellee S20A0227.

Luke Anthony Martin, A.D.A., Leigh Ellen Patterson, District Attorney, Floyd County District Attorney's Office, 3 Government Plaza, Suite 108, Rome, Georgia 30161, Christopher M. Carr, Attorney General, Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula Khristian Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Department of Law, 40 Capitol Square, S.W., Atlanta, Georgia 30334, Attorneys for the Appellant S20X0228.

Jonathan Ross Hamrick, Sean Justin Lowe, Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Public Defender, 12 East Fourth Avenue, Suite 10, Rome, Georgia 30161, Attorneys for the Appellee S20X0228.

Nahmias, Presiding Justice.

Appellant Corey Gardhigh was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter, felony murder, and other crimes in connection with the beating death of Paul Grady. In his appeal, Case No. S20A0227, Appellant contends that the trial court erred by denying his pretrial motion for immunity, that the evidence presented at his trial was insufficient to support his convictions, and that the trial court abused its discretion by denying his motion for a new trial on the general grounds. In Case No. S20X0228, the State cross-appeals, contending that the trial court erred by sentencing Appellant for voluntary manslaughter and vacating his sentence for felony murder under the modified merger rule adopted in Edge v. State , 261 Ga. 865, 414 S.E.2d 463 (1992), and by giving the jury an instruction on voluntary manslaughter. As explained below, in Case No. S20A0227, we affirm Appellant's convictions, and in Case No. S20X0228, we affirm the sentences the trial court imposed and dismiss the portion of the cross-appeal that seeks to challenge the jury instruction.¹

1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdicts, the evidence presented at trial showed the following. During the summer of 2016, Appellant began working for Grady's painting business. Grady regularly paid Appellant until around Thanksgiving, when the business's earnings slowed. At the end of November, Grady did not pay Appellant as scheduled for a few weeks of work that Appellant performed.

In early December, Appellant began sending Grady text messages demanding to be paid. Grady intermittently replied, at one point telling Appellant that he would "get it squared away," but he continued not to pay Appellant. On December 22, Appellant texted Grady saying that he would not be able to buy Christmas gifts for his children, and his text messages then became increasingly threatening. One of the messages sent by Appellant said, "Paul I promise you when I see you it's not going to be a good day for you buddy," and another said, "I made sure your business went well, I'm not going to [give] a f**k about your family and my freedom." On December 23, Grady agreed to leave a paycheck for Appellant in Grady's mailbox, and Appellant picked up the check from the mailbox later that evening.

Appellant waited until the next Tuesday, December 27, to cash the check. That afternoon, Appellant's mother Marian Grant drove him to the bank to cash the check; she was driving a white Chevrolet Malibu, and Appellant's 11-year-old son C.G. and his three-year-old daughter were passengers in the car. When Appellant got to the bank, he tried to cash the check but was turned away because Grady's account did not have sufficient funds. Appellant became upset and told the bank teller, "I'm going to kill him." Appellant then left the bank, and Grant drove the group to a relative's house to drop off Christmas gifts. After spending about 20 minutes there, Appellant asked Grant to drive him to Grady's house in Floyd County so that he could talk to Grady about the check, and Grant obliged.²

When they got to Grady's house, Grant parked the car beside the curb at the end of Grady's driveway. Appellant got out of the car, walked up the driveway and the three or four brick steps to Grady's front porch, and knocked on the door. Grady came outside and stood on the porch while Appellant moved down to the bottom step. The two men spoke for five to ten minutes. According to C.G., Appellant and Grady briefly argued; Grady made a lunging motion and possibly spit at Appellant; and Appellant then grabbed Grady, threw him down the stairs onto a concrete sidewalk, and punched him two or three times. C.G. did not see Appellant fall down the steps.³ Grant got out of the car and started yelling Appellant's name. Appellant then got up and ran back to the car and got inside, and Grant drove away. Appellant's hands were bleeding when he got back in the car, and the jury was shown photos taken later that evening of his injured knuckles.

At some point during the altercation, Grady's stepson S.M., who was inside the house, heard Grady and another man yelling and then a loud bang, so he looked out a window and saw a man running down the driveway toward a white four-door car. S.M. then went out the front door and found Grady lying at the bottom of the stairs with his back and head on the concrete sidewalk and his legs up against the railing of the stairs; a large pool of blood had gathered under his head. S.M. saw the white car drive away and called 911. First responders arrived and took Grady to the hospital. He was unable to respond coherently to questions, appeared to have significant injuries to his face including a "smashed" nose and a gash above his eyebrow, and had blood coming out of his mouth and eyes. A check with blood and Appellant's name on it was found lying on the steps.

After leaving Grady's house, Grant drove back to her house, where Appellant was living. On the way there, Appellant told C.G., "I'm not going to let anybody run over my life." When they got to the house, Appellant took a shower and changed clothes.

Later that evening, Appellant was arrested, taken to the Floyd County Police Department, and interviewed. The interview was video-recorded and played for the jury at trial. Appellant said that he was upset about not getting paid because he could not buy Christmas gifts for his children; that he sent the threatening text messages to Grady only to get Grady to respond; that he went to Grady's house only to talk to Grady about the check; that he was "cool, calm, and collected" on the way to Grady's house; that he told Grady that he could not cash the check and asked what Grady was going to do about it, Grady told him that he could take something off of Grady's truck to pawn for money, and Appellant replied that he did not work for pawned items; that he then saw Grady lunge at him and felt threatened, so he "bear-hugged" Grady and twisted Grady off the porch onto the ground; that Grady landed on his own back, covered his face with his arms, and started grunting; that he did not see any blood on Grady; that he did not punch Grady; that after they fell, he heard Grant yelling his name so he immediately jumped up and ran back to the car; that he had heard Grady struggling to breathe but did not think he should call 911 because "[Grady] didn't think about my kids on Sunday morning" (Christmas Day); that he could not explain how Grady received significant facial injuries; and that Appellant received the injuries on his hands when they scraped the side of Grady's house and the concrete when he fell. Appellant was then charged with aggravated battery and booked into jail.

Grady remained unresponsive in the hospital, and eight days later, he died from his injuries. The medical examiner who performed Grady's autopsy testified that Grady died from blunt force head trauma. He had 24 separate injuries, including three injuries to the right side, left side, and back of his head; numerous lacerations and bruises on his face ; and significant bleeding and swelling of his brain. Grady's injuries were consistent with his face and both sides and the back of his head having had multiple impacts against hands, steps, or concrete, and all of his injuries were consistent with having been sustained contemporaneously. When asked which of Grady's injuries was the most serious, the medical examiner replied, "You can't separate them."

Appellant did not testify. His theory of defense was that he was justified in grabbing Grady after Grady lunged at him, and that Grady was then accidentally injured from falling onto the concrete sidewalk.

S20A0227. Gardhigh v. The State.

2. Before trial, Appellant moved for immunity from prosecution pursuant to OCGA § 16-3-24.2, claiming that he acted in self-defense after Grady lunged at him. The evidence presented by the State at the hearing on the immunity motion was essentially consistent with the trial evidence just summarized in Division 1. However, Appellant also testified at the hearing as follows: after he sent the seemingly threatening text messages to Grady, he called Grady and said that the messages were not meant as threats; he did not tell the bank teller that he was going to kill Grady; he was not yelling at Grady when he and Grady were talking on Grady's porch; Grady started to get "explosive" when Appellant told Grady that he did not work for pawned items; Grady lunged at him, he saw Grady's hands move forward, and he felt threatened, so he knocked Grady's hands down and allowed Grady's body to fall on him, but the two men twisted as they fell together and Grady landed on Grady's back; Ap...