Robert Dwight Foster appeals his convictions for malice murder, aggravated assault, burglary, and criminal damage to property in the second degree, in connection with the death of Tacara Judon and the injury of Ronald Porter. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.
Construed to support the verdicts, the evidence showed that Foster and Octavia Robinson (formerly Octavia Judon) were involved in a romantic relationship. Robinson ended the relationship in July 2003 because Foster was jealous and possessive. The pair reestablished contact in January 2004, but did not date again.
On February 6, 2004, Robinson turned down Foster's request for a date and said that she had plans. Robinson and her friend Kwantez Dennis spent some time that evening with Robinson's two children, daughter Tacara Judon, aged five, and son Ronald Porter, aged ten. Foster telephoned Robinson during dinner and she told him she would return his call. Robinson and Dennis later left the children at home alone while they went to a nearby movie theater to see if there were enough seats for the four to see a movie; at the time they left, the children were asleep. Shortly after midnight, while Dennis was inside the theater, Robinson received a phone call from Foster that originated from her home phone. Foster was angry that Robinson was not with him and, in a profanity-laced tirade, said that he had damaged her garage, Dennis's truck, and her bedroom; he then said "your kids are home and they're going to die."
Robinson rushed home in her car and found that Dennis's vehicle had been rammed through a garage door of the house; the front door to the house was open. She went to Ronald's room; he was lying on the floor severely beaten. Robinson went to Tacara's room; she was lying in a pool of blood in her bed, beaten, and had no pulse. Tacara died of multiple blunt force trauma injuries to the head; her death was not instantaneous. Ronald suffered similar injuries resulting in brain damage that required extensive hospitalization, surgery, and physical rehabilitation; he remains deaf in one ear. He also suffered a broken hand and other defensive injuries during the attack.
When police officers arrived at Robinson's residence, they found the mailbox knocked over, and a cordless telephone from the house attached to it. A bloody tire lug wrench was lying on the kitchen floor, the picture tube of the television in the master bedroom was broken, and blood was on the 9 and 1 keys of the telephone. A second garage door, next to the one rammed by Dennis's truck, had also been broken inwards.
Very early on February 7, 2004, law enforcement personnel received a 911 call from Foster; he identified himself, said he was at Robinson's address, reported that he had just tried to kill two children with a tire lug wrench he had taken from his car, and asked the police to come for him as he waited around the corner. He was found in his car; it had extensive front-end damage, his boots were bloodstained, and there was blood on one of his hands. At trial, the parties stipulated that the DNA from the blood on the
When interviewed by detectives, Foster initially asked for an attorney, and the detectives said the interview would end, and began to leave. Foster stopped them and asked how the children were doing; he was told that the girl had died and that the boy was badly injured. Foster asked what he was going to be charged with and the detectives told him murder. After a brief conversation, Foster stated "most people don't kill kids, most people don't do that," and he was certain the State would request that the death penalty be imposed.
The State sought the death penalty, and after his convictions, Foster was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for the malice murder charge.
1. Foster contends that the evidence was insufficient to convict him of malice murder and aggravated assault as the indictment alleged that those crimes were committed on February 6, 2004, when the evidence did not establish that the crimes took place on that date, but rather after midnight and during the early moments of February 7, 2004. "The State is not required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the crimes occurred on the date alleged in the indictment the indictment specifically state that the date of the offense is material." (Citation and punctuation omitted.) Waits v. State, 282 Ga. 1, 3(2), 644 S.E.2d 127 (2007).
Foster also asserts that the evidence was insufficient to convict him of the crime of burglary because the State failed to prove that he entered or remained in Robinson's house with the intent to commit a felony therein.
2. Foster raises a variety of issues regarding the composition of the grand and traverse juries in his case.
(a) In multiple enumerations of error, Foster challenges the grand and traverse jury source lists, raising the same arguments regarding Clayton County lists that this Court rejected in Williams v. State, 287 Ga. 735, 699 S.E.2d 25 (2010). In that case, this Court reiterated that the most-recently-available Decennial Census is the proper benchmark to use in determining if a fair cross-section of the County's eligible jurors have been selected for jury lists. Id. Accordingly, these arguments have no merit.
(b) Foster asserts that the traverse jury source list was compiled by a board of jury commissioners that was comprised of only five members, rather than six members as directed by OCGA § 15-12-20.
(c) When the 2005 traverse jury source list was compiled, it included a customer list of the county water authority, and some persons serviced by the authority reside outside the county. Foster contends that the 2007 traverse jury list applicable to his trial thus may have included persons who were not residents of Clayton County. However, the water authority list was used only for the 2005 source list, and Foster produced no evidence that showed that any non-resident of Clayton County appeared on the 2007 traverse jury list.
(d) Foster contends that Hispanic persons were misrepresented in the composition of the grand and traverse jury pools, in violation of the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments, and OCGA § 15-12-40.
Id. at 692(1), 532 S.E.2d 78.
After a pre-trial hearing, the trial court ruled that Hispanic persons in Clayton County were not a cognizable group for grand and traverse jury purposes under the Sixth Amendment. The trial court did not alter that determination in its ruling on Foster's motion for a new trial, as amended. However, we need not address this issue as Foster failed to show any actual misrepresentation of this group. See Humphreys v. State, 287 Ga. 63, 68(3)(b), 694 S.E.2d 316 (2010).
Foster's own expert witness testified that when using 2000 Census data,
(e) Foster also contends that the jury commission engaged in improper forced balancing to achieve representation of racial groups in the grand and traverse jury pools. "Forced balancing to ensure that the racial balance in a grand or traverse jury pool reflects the racial balance in the county population is not unconstitutional. Gissendaner v. State, 272 Ga. 704(5), 532 S.E.2d 677 (2000)." Yates v. State, 274 Ga. 312, 317(5), 553 S.E.2d 563 (2001).(f) According to Foster, the grand jury and traverse jury certificates did not reflect the correct 2000 Census figures. However, the evidence of his expert upon which he relies showed that the differences between data used by the expert and that of the jury commission was due to the different manner in which the expert treated Hispanic persons. And, again, Foster fails to show any unconstitutional under-representation or over-representation of any cognizable group, even using what he contends are the correct figures. Humphreys, supra at 69(3)(b)(ii), 694 S.E.2d 316.
3. During jury voir dire, Foster was not permitted to ask prospective jurors whether they considered law enforcement officers more or less trustworthy than other persons. "It is not error to refuse to allow defense counsel to ask whether a prospective juror would tend to believe or prefer the testimony of a police officer over other testimony." (Citations and punctuation omitted.) Simmons v. State, 282 Ga. 183, 187(9), 646 S.E.2d 55 (2007).
4. Foster requested that the jury be instructed on the law regarding voluntary manslaughter as a lesser included offense of malice murder, but the trial court did not give the charge. See OCGA § 16-5-2(a).
5. During the conference on the presentation of the sentencing phase, Foster objected to the State's request for a jury instruction regarding the statutory aggravating circumstance of aggravated battery because no such crime was set forth in the indictment. But, while an aggravating circumstance must be proved to the jury, it need not be included in the indictment. Jones v. State, 282 Ga. 784, 790-791(2), 653 S.E.2d 456 (2007). To the extent that Foster's objection raised an issue of the State's notice of its intent to rely upon this aggravating circumstance, the State informed Foster of its intent to seek the death penalty on November 1, 2004, and separately gave written notice of five statutory aggravating circumstances, including aggravated battery.
6. Foster urges that, during the sentencing phase of the trial, the court abused its discretion in allowing oral, rather than written or read, victim impact statements from the family of the murder victim. While this Court has noted with approval the reading of prepared statements by victim impact witnesses, Turner v. State, 268 Ga. 213, 214-215(2)(a), 486 S.E.2d 839 (1997), the fact that such a procedure is not followed does not mean that "this omission resulted in the admission of unlawfully prejudicial testimony and/or courtroom demeanor that the recommended procedure was designed to avoid. [Cit.]" Lance v. State, 275 Ga. 11, 24(27), 560 S.E.2d 663 (2002).
Foster contends that in this instance, unlawfully prejudicial evidence was admitted through the testimony of Tacara's father that, since the crimes, he had suffered depression, nightmares, had trouble sleeping, and had seen a psychiatrist, and the testimony
7. Finally, Foster claims that his trial counsel failed to provide effective representation. In order to prevail on this claim, he must show both that counsel's performance was deficient, and that the deficient performance was prejudicial to his defense. Smith v. Francis, 253 Ga. 782, 783(1), 325 S.E.2d 362 (1985), citing Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). To meet the first prong of the required test, he must overcome the "strong presumption" that counsel's performance
The aspects of trial counsel's representation that Foster alleges were ineffective are: failure to adequately investigate the issues regarding the composition of the grand and traverse jury arrays; failure to sufficiently support the challenges to those arrays with evidence; failure to specifically and sufficiently object to the victim impact evidence; and failure to preserve for appeal issues that Foster does not specify. The trial court did not err in ruling that, had counsel taken the actions that Foster now advocates, there was no reasonable probability of a different result at trial. See Divisions 2 and 6, supra.
Judgments affirmed.
All the Justices concur.
(a) Nonmechanical procedure.
(b) Mechanical or electronic procedure.
(c) Other disposition or transfer. In any county in which more than 70 percent of the population of the county according to the United States decennial census of 1980 or any future such census resides on property of the United States government which is exempt from taxation by this state, the population of the county for the purpose of this Code section shall be deemed to be the total population of the county minus the population of the county which resides on property of the United States government other than persons who reside on property of the United States government within such county who are registered voters according to the official registered voters list of the county as most recently revised by the county board of registrars or other county election officials and any persons who reside on property of the United States government within such county who are not registered voters and who have requested in writing to the board of jury commissioners that their names be included on the list from which citizens are selected to serve as jurors and grand jurors by the board of jury commissioners.
(d) Assistance of the Administrative Office of the Courts.
(a)(1) In all cases in which the death penalty may be imposed, subsequent to an adjudication of guilt and in conjunction with the procedures in Code Section 17-10-30, the court shall allow evidence from the family of the victim, or such other witness having personal knowledge of the victim's personal characteristics and the emotional impact of the crime on the victim, the victim's family, or the community. Except as provided in paragraph (4) of this subsection, such evidence shall be given in the presence of the defendant and of the jury and shall be subject to cross-examination.
(b) In presenting such evidence, the victim, the family of the victim, or such other witness having personal knowledge of the impact of the crime on the victim, the victim's family, or the community shall, if applicable:
(c) The court shall allow the defendant the opportunity to cross-examine and rebut the evidence presented of the victim's personal characteristics and the emotional impact of the crime on the victim, the victim's family, or the community, and such cross-examination and rebuttal evidence shall be subject to the same discretion set forth in paragraph (1) of subsection (a) of this Code section.
(d) No sentence shall be invalidated because of failure to comply with the provisions of this Code section. This Code section shall not be construed to create any cause of action or any right of appeal on behalf of any person.