NAHMIAS, Justice.
Appellant Dorunte Williams was convicted of the malice murder of Stacy Barnett, aggravated assault involving family violence against Teresa Dubose, and possession of a
1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdicts, the evidence at trial showed the following. On the morning of May 5, 2007, Dubose, who was Appellant's girlfriend and the mother of his two children, was with him in her Athens apartment. Appellant began acting paranoid and accused Dubose of stealing his Mega Millions lottery ticket, which he said was worth millions of dollars, and hiring someone to "knock him off and cash the ticket." Appellant, who was carrying a gun and a steak knife, demanded that Dubose call off the "hit." He cut her left hand and poked her in the right knee with the knife in an attempt to get her to identify the supposed hitman. Dubose, who had not actually stolen Appellant's lottery ticket or hired a hitman, attempted to calm Appellant down by saying that she would call off the hit. At some point, Dubose's sisters and nieces came to the apartment, and Appellant asked Dubose and her family members, "if there was a hit out to kill you, would you get them first?" Dubose left the apartment a short time later and spent the night at her niece's home in Bowman, Georgia.
Following the incident with Dubose, Appellant went to a party hosted by Sherildon Scott, which began in the early afternoon. While at the party, Appellant was seen talking to Barnett, and Tarvarious Williams, Barnett's cousin, overheard Appellant tell Barnett that he had won the lottery and that someone was trying to hurt him. Appellant then left the party with someone who dropped him off at his friend Tom Ellis's house, and Barnett left with Tarvarious to go to the store that Barnett had recently opened. While traveling to the store, Barnett told Tarvarious that Appellant kept asking him questions about whether he was "messing around with" Appellant's girlfriend and that Appellant "made him feel weird" to the point that Barnett "didn't feel safe around him."
Barnett and Tarvarious returned to the party later that afternoon. Around 10:00 p.m., Ellis drove Appellant back to the party and waited outside in the car while Appellant went into Scott's apartment. Ten or 15 minutes later, Ellis saw Appellant come out of the apartment with Barnett, reach into his pants, pull out Ellis's .380 caliber pistol (which Appellant had taken without telling Ellis), and shoot Barnett. Appellant then ran to Ellis's car, and they drove away. As Appellant fled, partygoers who heard the gunshot ran outside and discovered Barnett shot in the right side of the neck. Barnett was taken to the hospital, where he remained in a coma until his death eight days later.
Immediately after the shooting, Ellis drove Appellant to Atlanta and dropped him off near Memorial Drive. On the way, Appellant told Ellis about shooting Barnett "in the dome," and Appellant threw Ellis's gun out
The next day, Dubose contacted the police to report the domestic violence incident with Appellant. Dubose was instructed to come to the police station, where she made several phone calls to Appellant, who told her that he was being framed for shooting Barnett. Two days later, on May 8, Atlanta police responded to a suspicious-person call and found Appellant near Memorial Drive. The responding officer learned that Appellant had outstanding warrants from Athens-Clarke County and arrested him. Several officers noted that Appellant appeared agitated and still spoke about his lottery ticket.
Appellant does not dispute the legal sufficiency of the evidence supporting his convictions. Nevertheless, as is this Court's practice in murder cases, we have reviewed the record and conclude that, when viewed in the light most favorable to the verdicts, the evidence presented at trial and summarized above was sufficient to authorize a rational jury to find Appellant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes for which he was convicted. See
2. Appellant's sole contention is that the trial court erred in allowing Tarvarious Williams to testify as follows:
This testimony about Barnett's statement was undisputedly hearsay; the trial court admitted it under the necessity exception to the hearsay rule. See former OCGA § 24-3-1 (b).
Hearsay evidence was admissible under the necessity exception if three requirements were met: (1) the declarant was unavailable; (2) the declarant's statement was relevant to a material fact and was more probative as to that fact than other evidence that may be procured and offered; and (3) the statement exhibited particularized guarantees of trustworthiness. See
As to the second part, Barnett's statement was relevant to the material fact of Appellant's motive for shooting Barnett — his belief that Barnett was involved with his girlfriend, Dubose. See
As to the third part of the test, "[w]hether a statement is trustworthy is a matter for the trial court's discretion, and the exercise of such discretion will not be overturned absent an abuse of discretion."
Here, Barnett's statement bore significant indicia of trustworthiness because Tarvarious testified that Barnett was his cousin for whom he had "close feelings"; Barnett had no apparent motive to fabricate the statement; Barnett made the statement to Tarvarious shortly after the conversation between Barnett and Appellant; and the statement aligned with Dubose's testimony about Appellant's paranoid allegations. Appellant points out that Tarvarious did not tell the police about this statement until more than 18 months after the murder, when he was facing criminal charges.
All the Justices concur.