HINES, Justice.
Following the denial of his motion for new trial, as amended, Dana Gregory McFarlane appeals his convictions for malice murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, and possession of a knife during the commission of a felony in connection with the fatal slashing of his fiancee Kinaya Schenese Byrd. His sole contention of error is that the trial transcript is incomplete in violation of statutory requirements. For the reasons which follow we find the challenge to be without merit, and we affirm.
Approximately three to four minutes after Smith's call to the police, an officer arrived on the scene and knocked on the front door of Byrd's home, but there was no answer. Another officer arrived, and after checking the rear door of the residence, the police returned to the front door and found it unlocked. The officers entered the residence and found Byrd lying on her back, just past the front door; she was unresponsive. The officers did not find anyone else in the residence. Paramedics were dispatched to the scene and determined that Byrd was dead.
Shortly thereafter, Henry County police received a radio transmission indicating that the Rockdale County Sheriff's Department had stopped McFarlane, and that he was confessing to a crime in Henry County. After signing a statement of Miranda
At trial, McFarlane admitted to killing Byrd. He testified that he and Byrd argued after he became aware of text messages indicating that Byrd was having a sexual relationship with another individual, and that he choked Byrd until she lost consciousness and then cut her throat.
1. The evidence was sufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find McFarlane guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes for which he was convicted. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).
2. McFarlane contends that he is entitled to a new trial because voir dire was not recorded as required by OCGA § 5-6-41(a).
It appears that McFarlane failed to request that voir dire be transcribed, and OCGA § 5-6-41(a) does not require that voir dire be reported in all felony cases. State v. Graham, 246 Ga. 341, 342, 271 S.E.2d 627 (1980). It is mandatory that voir dire be made part of the record in cases where the death penalty is imposed, which is not the circumstance here. Id., citing Owens v. State, 233 Ga. 869, 214 S.E.2d 173 (1975). Moreover, as to McFarlane's offered example of prejudice, a review of the existing trial transcript indicates that indeed one of the sitting jurors was arrested on outstanding traffic-related charges, but that such juror was replaced with one of the alternates prior to jury deliberations. In any event, McFarlane's complaint is founded on the tenuous premise that an examination of the voir dire
Judgments affirmed.
All the Justices concur.