Waters v. State

896 S.E.2d 507

WATERS

v.The STATE.

S23A0893

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Decided: December 19, 2023

Superior Court, Laurens County, Donald W. Gillis, Judge

Wendell Rocky Adams, Office of the Public Defender, 1506 Bellevue Road, Dublin, Georgia 31021, for Appellant

Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula Khristian Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Christopher M. Carr, Attorney General, Meghan Hobbs Hill, Assistant Attorney General, Department of Law, 40 Capitol Square, S.W., Atlanta, Geor- gia 30334, Robert Brandon Faircloth, A.D.A., Louie Craig Fraser, District Attorney, Dublin Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office, P.O. Box 2029, Dublin, Georgia 31040, for Appellee.

LaGrua, Justice.

Appellant Roy Lee Waters was found guilty but mentally ill of felony murder in connection with the shooting death of Melvina Dunlap.¹ On appeal, Waters contends that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction, the trial court erroneously denied Waters’s motion for a new trial on the "general grounds," and his trial counsel provided constitutionally ineffective assistance by failing to further investigate Waters’s insanity defense. For the reasons that follow, these claims fail, and we affirm Waters’s conviction.

The evidence presented at trial showed that in the early morning hours of November 25, 2013, Waters, who was around 72 years sold at the time, shot and killed Dunlap, his longtime girlfriend, in their shared bedroom. After the shooting, Waters admitted in calls he placed to his pastor and one of his brothers that he shot Dunlap. In a call placed to another brother, Waters said, "[S]omething happen[ed]," and that he was "in trouble."

An ambulance responded to the home of Waters and Dunlap based on "a medical call." When the EMT entered the home, Waters directed the EMT to the back bedroom, stating, "I shot her." The EMT discovered Dunlap’s body in the bedroom, and the medical examiner later determined that Dunlap’s cause of death was three gunshot wounds to the face and torso.

Shortly after the ambulance arrived, a sheriff’s deputy entered the home and asked Waters, who was reading the Bible, what happened; Waters responded that he "had been dealing with them for a while." Police recovered a Rossi .32-caliber pistol and four shell casings from the floor of the bedroom. Waters was arrested, and a gunshot residue test was performed on his hands; it was positive for the presence of gunshot residue. After Waters was read his Miranda² rights, he agreed to speak with police. In Waters’s interview, he admitted that he shot Dunlap, but he struggled to explain why he had done so. Waters stated that he and Dunlap had gone to church the previous morning and "something happened in church and [he] couldn’t figure out what it was," but "it was eating [him] up and tearing [him] up." Waters later stated that he shot Dunlap because she "did [him] wrong" by refusing to marry him and that he did not want to hurt her.

At trial, Waters asserted an insanity defense. During its case-in-chief, the State presented Dr. Elliott Currence, a forensic psychologist at Central State Hospital, as an expert in the field of forensic psychology, and he was admitted as an expert without objection. Dr. Currence testified that he evaluated Waters to determine whether he was criminally responsible at the time of the act, which Dr. Currence explained was an assessment to determine a person’s mental state at the time of the alleged crime. Dr. Currence explained that for a person to be found insane or not criminally responsible at the time of the act, mental illness symptoms "have to be severe enough to result in an inability to know that what you’re doing is wrong or you’re so mentally ill that you’re not able to control your behavior; you have a delusional compulsion." Dr. Currence elaborated that for such people the "illness is so severe that they have no idea that what they’re doing is wrong or they have an inability to stop themselves from doing it."

Dr. Currence noted that Waters "ha[d] a history of outpatient treatment for schizophrenia before [the shooting]." After the shooting, Waters was "psychiatrically hospitalized" at Central State Hospital, documented as "being paranoid," and later discharged with diagnoses of schizophrenia and alcohol dependence.

Dr. Currence interviewed Waters twice. Regarding the shooting, Waters stated, "I don’t know what happened when I shot [Dunlap], I was home, she was there, and the next thing I just had a gun in my hand and she was shot." Waters further explained: "After [Dunlap] was shot, I called my brother and I called a pastor. I just wanted to call my people and let them know that something bad happened. I know I needed help and I guess maybe they could help me." Dr. Currence testified that these phone calls after the shooting were "indicative of [Waters’s] awareness of wrongfulness." Dr. Currence also testified that Waters’s lack of a clear memory of what occurred was "not uncommon" among people with and without a history of mental illness.

When Dr. Currence asked Waters whether he had any previous mental health issues, Waters responded that he had "bad nerves," for which he was prescribed medication. According to Dr. Currence, Waters did not describe any delusions and he did not appear to have any irrational thoughts. Dr. Currence stated that Waters was cooperative and understood that his behavior had been "problematic." In Dr. Currence’s opinion, Waters was criminally responsible at the time of Dunlap’s shooting.

In Waters’s defense, he presented the testimony of his pharmacist, who testified that he filled numerous prescriptions for Waters in the month prior to the shooting. The pharmacist listed Waters’s prescriptions and noted the reason they were generally prescribed. The pharmacist was not admitted as an expert, and he testified:

The risperidone is generally used as antipsychotic. Clonazepam [is] an antianxiety agent. Paroxetine is [an] antidepressant. Pantoprazole is generally used for reflux disorders or stomach ulcer[s]. Isosorbide is a heart medication, usually to treat angina. Lisinopril [is] usually used for blood pressure … Donepezil is used to treat Alzheimer’s or some type of dementia disorder. Hydrochlorothiazide is a diuretic which is used for fluid retention and blood pressure … Tamsulosin is for used prostate problem to increase urine flow.

During Dr. Currence’s testimony, he stated that risperidone is commonly prescribed to treat schizophrenia and clonazepam is used in the treatment for mental illness.

Reverend Don Edwards testified that Waters attended church approximately fifteen hours prior to the shooting and he appeared upset and was crying. Because that was not Waters’s "normal character," Edwards went over to comfort Waters, but Edwards was unable to have a conversation with Waters because it was in the middle of the church service. Waters’s son testified that Waters came to see him after church and Waters was "keyed up," "sweating," and "concerned about how [his son] was doing." Waters’s son stated that he had never seen his father act that way before.

Waters’s two brothers and his son testified that they knew Waters had previously spent time at Central State Hospital for "emotional" or "mental problems" and that Waters took medication for his "bad nerves." One brother testified that when Waters was taking an unspecified medication, he would become disoriented and "wasn’t his real self." Waters’s son testified that he had previously witnessed a time when Waters "could barely walk" and "was almost about to crawl coming in the house." But Waters’s son was not sure whether Waters had taken too much medication or not enough on that occasion.

Waters took the stand in his own defense. Waters stated that he usually took his medication as prescribed, but that he did not take his medication on the weekend of the shooting because overall he "fe[lt] like [he] took too much medicine" so he "backed off of it." Waters explained that he started "feeling bad" on the Sunday morning that he went to church and stated, "I just—I couldn’t be myself," and that he felt worse upon leaving church that day. When asked whether he shot Dunlap, Waters said, "I don’t know what happened" and "I can’t remember." But Waters admitted that he told people that he shot, Dunlap. Waters further stated that he had not argued with Dunlap prior to the shooting and that he did not have any thoughts about hurting or killing her.

1. Waters contends the trial court erred in denying his motion for new trial because the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support his conviction for felony murder. We disagree.

[1, 2] Evidence is constitutionally sufficient to support a conviction if, " ‘after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found- the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.’" Munn v. State, 313 Ga. 716, 720 (1), 873 S.E.2d 166 (2022) (quoting Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319 (III) (B), 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979)). "This Court does not reweigh evidence or resolve conflicts in testimony but rather defers to the jury’s assessment of the weight and credibility of the evidence." Jones v. State, 314 Ga. 692, 695, 878 S.E.2d 502 (2022) (citation and punctuation omitted).

[3, 4] The evidence summarized above, including Waters’s admission that he shot Dunlap, the presence of gunshot residue on his hands after the shooting, and the recovery of a handgun and shell casings in the room where Waters directed the EMT to locate Dunlap’s body, was sufficient to authorize the jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Waters was guilty of felony murder based on aggravated assault. The jury was also authorized to reject Waters’s insanity defense based on its assessment of the credibility of the witnesses and of any conflicts in the evidence, including Dr. Currence’s testimony that Waters was...