McLaughlin v. State

338 Ga.App. 1

789 S.E.2d 247

McLaughlin

v.The State.

A16A0385

Court of Appeals of Georgia.

July 12, 2016

Mitchell D. Durham, for Appellant.

Amelia Greeson Pray, D. Victor Reynolds, Marietta, for Appellee.

BRANCH, Judge.

Following a jury trial, Kimberly West McLaughlin was convicted in Cobb County Superior Court of a single count of aggravated assault. McLaughlin now appeals from the denial of her motion for a new trial, arguing that she received ineffective assistance of counsel based on her attorney's failure to seek a continuance to obtain evidence of battered person syndrome to use in support of McLaughlin's sole defense. We agree, and we therefore reverse the trial court's order.

“On appeal from a criminal conviction, the defendant is no longer entitled to a presumption of innocence and we therefore construe the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury's guilty verdict.” Marriott v. State , 320 Ga.App. 58, 739 S.E.2d 68 (2013) (citation omitted). So viewed, the record shows that McLaughlin's conviction resulted from a January 2012 altercation between McLaughlin and her then-boyfriend, Jeffrey Kovanda, that resulted in injuries to Kovanda. At the time of the incident, McLaughlin and Kovanda, who had dated or lived together periodically since approximately July 2010, were living together in a camper owned by Jeff Worth.¹ Also present was a mutual friend of the couple, Brent Hanie.

On the night in question, McLaughlin and Kovanda got into an argument during which McLaughlin, who was standing at or near the kitchen sink, picked up a knife. Kovanda testified that he was sitting on the sofa when the argument began, with McLaughlin eventually approaching him holding the knife. Kovanda then stood up and as the argument continued, it apparently became physical to some degree. After the argument ended and Kovanda had returned to sit on the sofa, he felt blood running on his torso and discovered that he had been stabbed.² Kovanda asked McLaughlin to apologize, but she refused. According to both McLaughlin and Hanie,³ when McLaughlin refused to apologize, Kovanda moved towards her aggressively, and Hanie had to get in between the couple to prevent Kovanda from physically assaulting McLaughlin. McLaughlin then picked up a knife, which Hanie took from her and tossed onto the camper's bed. Hanie then took Kovanda outside the camper, where Kovanda called the police.⁴

A patrol car responded to Kovanda's 911 call, and the responding officer detained McLaughlin at the scene until detectives arrived.⁵ Kovanda was taken to the hospital by ambulance and was treated for his injuries, which included a “puncture-type wound ” on the lower part of his left buttock, near the hip; a “slashing or glancing injury” on the left side of his torso, near the rib cage; and a slash on the inside of his right forearm. Doctors closed the puncture wound with staples, but neither of the other wounds was deep enough to require surgical closure.

Detective Amy Worthington, the lead investigator on the case, testified that police collected two knives from inside the camper, and both appeared to have blood on them. A butcher knife was found on top of the bed in the camper, while a smaller knife was found near the sink in the kitchen area. When Worthington interviewed McLaughlin at the police station later that evening, McLaughlin smelled of alcohol. In response to a question from the detective, McLaughlin stated that she had consumed four beers earlier that night.

Following the police investigation, McLaughlin was indicted on one count of aggravated assault and one count of battery. At trial, in addition to the evidence concerning the indicted crimes, the State also introduced evidence of two prior incidents between the couple, each of which had resulted in McLaughlin's criminal conviction. The evidence showed that a January 2011 altercation between McLaughlin and Kovanda resulted in McLaughlin being indicted on one count of battery and two counts of simple battery (the “January 2011 case”). McLaughlin entered a negotiated guilty plea on this indictment, pursuant to which she pled guilty to a single count of battery and received a sentence of 25 days incarceration, which represented the amount of time she had served in jail following her arrest.

The indictment and guilty plea in the January 2011 case arose out of an incident where McLaughlin bit Kovanda's finger, drawing blood. According to Kovanda, the bite occurred when, after the couple had argued, Kovanda prepared to exit their apartment. In attempting to leave, Kovanda tried to “move [McLaughlin] out of the way” and he stuck his hand out towards McLaughlin's face. When he did so, his finger “ended up in [McLaughlin's] mouth and she took a bite[.]” According to McLaughlin, however, the incident occurred after Kovanda came home brandishing a gun and accusing McLaughlin of being unfaithful. When McLaughlin denied Kovanda's allegations, Kovanda grabbed her face and pushed her backwards. As Kovanda did so, his finger went into McLaughlin's mouth and she bit him. Kovanda left the apartment with McLaughlin's cell phone and called police. Police later arrested McLaughlin after they could not locate the gun she claimed Kovanda had threatened her with. At trial, however, Kovanda did not deny that on the day of the January 2011 incident, he came into the house with a gun.

The State also introduced evidence showing that in December 2011, McLaughlin was indicted on one count of simple assault and one count of battery based on an altercation she had with Kovanda in October 2011 (the “October 2011 case”). Shortly after her indictment, McLaughlin entered into a negotiated guilty plea, pursuant to which she pled guilty to both counts of the indictment and was placed on probation for 24 months.⁵ The indictment and guilty plea in the October 2011 case resulted from an incident in which McLaughlin injured Kovanda with a knife described as a utility or razor knife. Kovanda testified that as he was sitting at a desk, he and McLaughlin argued over whether Kovanda was texting another woman. McLaughlin approached him with the utility knife in her hand and held the weapon to Kovanda's neck, inflicting a cut behind his left ear. When Kovanda then stood up, McLaughlin slashed his arm. Kovanda sought treatment for his wounds the following day, and both the cut behind Kovanda's left ear and on his left forearm required stitches. After receiving treatment, Kovanda then went to the police station to report the incident. After McLaughlin was arrested and indicted, however, Kovanda asked the district attorney to drop the charges.

According to McLaughlin, Kovanda initiated the incident resulting in the October 2011 case by attacking her both physically and verbally while he was under the influence of methamphetamine. McLaughlin testified that when upset, she often cut herself as a form of coping. On the night in question, she was cutting herself with a razor knife. Kovanda encouraged her, telling her that she should “just go ahead and cut [her] wrist and get it over with.” Kovanda then began to walk towards her, encouraging her to cut her wrists and when he reached her, he grabbed the arm in which McLaughlin was holding the knife. In the ensuing struggle, Kovanda received the cut behind his ear and on his forearm.

McLaughlin's defense at trial was justification, and she claimed that Kovanda's injuries resulted from her efforts to defend herself. See OCGA § 16–3–21 (a) (“[a] person is justified in threatening or using force against another when and to the extent that ... she reasonably believes that such threat or force is necessary to defend ... herself ... against such other's imminent use of unlawful force”). Prior to trial, McLaughlin's attorney filed a motion pursuant to OCGA § 16–3–24.2⁶ to dismiss the indictment based on justification. The trial court held a hearing on that motion, and after hearing the evidence, denied the same. The court did, however, allow McLaughlin to pursue her justification defense at trial.

In support of her justification defense, McLaughlin offered evidence of the abusive nature of her relationship with Kovanda. Specifically, McLaughlin testified that following the January 2011 incident, Kovanda destroyed her car with a baseball bat and sold it for scrap. In February 2011, Kovanda physically assaulted her twice and during the second assault he threw McLaughlin to the ground with such force that she sustained a black eye and a broken ankle. Following that incident, Kovanda began a pattern of abusing McLaughlin emotionally and physically. The physical abuse included Kovanda's choking her and attempting to suffocate her. The physical abuse resulted in McLaughlin's suffering bloody noses, black eyes, bruises, cut marks, and scrapes. In June 2011, Kovanda's assault on McLaughlin led her to seek treatment at a hospital for injuries to her leg, hip, and arm, as well as a concussion. Hospital personnel contacted police, and McLaughlin admitted to them that her boyfriend had beaten her, but she refused to identify the boyfriend to police.

McLaughlin stated that during the time she lived with Kovanda between February 2011 and January 2012, she would leave the couple's residence approximately once a week and would remain away anywhere from overnight to a few days. She repeatedly returned to Kovanda, however, because she loved him and “because when he's not on [methamphetamine], he's a different person. Because he would always call me, begging me to come back and telling me that he would never do it again and I believed him.” McLaughlin also explained that she never reported Kovanda to the police because she had grown up in an abusive home, with parents who frequently fought. During some of those fights, McLaughlin called the police and her parents were taken to jail. When her parents were released, McLaughlin would then receive a beating for calling the police. McLaughlin then stated, “and I would just—can't...