☢ test - Í

Jackson v. State, 294 Ga. 431, 754 S.E.2d 322 (January 21, 2014). Malice murder and related convictions affirmed; no error in joinder at trial of charges from two separate incidents. “In this case, the murder of Phillips was committed less than a mile from the armed robbery of Scott, and both occurred within a short period of time from one another. Both crimes involved aggravated assaults against multiple victims with an AK–47. Ballistics evidence showed the same gun was used in both crimes. Under these circumstances, the trial court did not err by granting the state's motion for joinder.” Howell v. State, 320 Ga.App. 287, 739 S.E.2d 700 (March 11, 2013). Statutory rape and drug possession convictions affirmed; no error in failing to sever the offenses. “Here, the evidence shows that, shortly after the sexual assault, the police discovered the drugs hidden inside a cigarette package in Howell's possession during a search incident to his arrest on the sexual offenses. Thus, the drug possession charges were related because they were an immediate circumstance of Howell's arrest for the sexual offenses for which he was being tried. Roundtree v. State, 270 Ga. 504, 505(2) (511 S.E.2d 190) (1999).” Also citing Coleman v. State , 286 Ga. 291, 302(10) (687 S.E.2d 427) (2009) (drug charges arising from defendant’s arrest for murder properly tried with murder charge). Griffin v. State, 292 Ga. 321, 737 S.E.2d 682 (January 22, 2013). Felony murder and related convictions affirmed; trial court properly declined to sever factually-related offenses, though committed two months apart. “The court recognized that both incidents involved a continuing dispute over a drug debt owed by Clark to Griffin and occurred in close physical and temporal proximity to each other. Moreover, the trial court correctly determined that evidence of the offenses occurring in April 2006 would be admissible in the trial of the offenses committed in June 2006 to establish motive for the subsequent crimes and found no evidence that trying the offenses together would have confused or misled the jury. See Heard v. State, 287 Ga. 554(4) (697 S.E.2d 811) (2010) (evidence of crimes committed on one date admissible in trial of those perpetrated on another date); Vaughns v. State, 274 Ga. 13(2) (549 S.E.2d 86) (2001) (evidence of defendant's involvement in prior crime admissible to show motive).” Tobias v. State, 319 Ga.App. 320, 735 S.E.2d 113 (November 30, 2012). Vehicular homicide and related convictions affirmed; trial court properly declined to sever “the charge of driving with an expired tag from the remaining charges of homicide by vehicle and failure to yield right of way at trial.” “Tobias … makes no argument as to whether the failure to sever prevented or hindered the jury from distinguishing the evidence or intelligently applying the law to each offense. Furthermore, Tobias stipulated at trial that she was operating her vehicle with an expired tag at the time of the accident. Accordingly, we find that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion.” Green v. State, 291 Ga. 287, 728 S.E.2d 668 (June 25, 2012). Malice murder and related convictions affirmed; trial court properly denied motion to sever charges related to separate incidents, each involving a different victim. “Both of the incidents in this case involved homeless victims with histories of prostitution and drug abuse, occurred within a short distance of one another, late at night less than three months apart, and had the same modus operandi of strangulation coupled with sexual activity in very unpleasant locations. See Spencer v. State, 268 Ga. 85, 86(2), 485 S.E.2d 477 (1997); Peppers v. State, 261 Ga. 338, 339–340(2), 404 S.E.2d 788 (1991). Thus, “evidence of crimes committed on one date would be admissible in the trial of those perpetrated on the other date.” Heard v. State, [287 Ga. 554, 559(4), 697 S.E.2d 811 (2010)]. The trial court properly found not only that each incident would be admissible as a similar transaction upon trial of the other, but also that the trier of fact in this case would be able to judge each individual offense fairly and intelligently.” Jackson v. State, 316 Ga.App. 128, 728 S.E.2d 774 (June 7, 2012). Conviction for aggravated assault on law enforcement officer affirmed; no error in denying motion to sever two separate sets of charges. Defendant faced charges stemming from 2007 shooting, and 2008 assault on officer attempting to arrest defendant on the prior shooting charges. Defendant was acquitted of the 2007 charges but convicted of the 2008 aggravated assault. Held, trial court properly denied severance, as the two sets of charges were connected . “Evidence of Jackson's flight [fn] from the arresting officer in 2008 would be admissible to show consciousness of guilt at a separate trial on the 2007 aggravated assault and aggravated battery incident. [fn] Evidence of the 2007 charges would be admissible in a separate trial on the 2008 charge to show the lawfulness of the traffic stop from which Jackson attempted to flee. [fn] ‘[W]here the evidence of one crime would be admissible in the trial of the other crime, it cannot be said that the trial court abused its discretion in denying the motion for severance.’ (Citation and punctuation omitted.) Woolfolk v. State, 282 Ga. 139, 140– 141(2), 644 S.E.2d 828 (2007); Bland v. State, 264 Ga. 610, 611(2), 449 S.E.2d 116 (1994) (‘Whether evidence of one offense would be admissible in a trial of the other offense if severance [were] granted is a relevant consideration.’) (citation omitted). Additionally, we have upheld a trial court's denial of a motion to sever where, although the charges