Glover v. State
Glover v. State
Opinion of the Court
A jury convicted James Edward Glover of felony murder in connection with the shooting death of Tony Ledell Leslie.
1. The evidence presented at trial shows that Glover and his wife went to Leslie’s house to collect a debt. After Leslie accused Glover of being disrespectful to his mother, the two men began arguing and wrestling in the front yard. The victim’s next-door neighbor heard Glover say to forget about the money and then saw Leslie, who weighed 300 pounds, push Glover and walk towards the house. Glover went to his car, got a gun from the back seat, and started shooting Leslie. The victim’s stepfather heard three shots and saw Glover chasing Leslie and continuing to shoot as they ran. The victim ran into the house, and Glover drove away in his car. Leslie was shot three times and died from a gunshot wound to his back. Police recovered six nine-millimeter cartridge cases from the yard and one from Glover’s car. They found the murder weapon later that night in a motel room that the Glovers had rented.
Glover admitted shooting Leslie, but contended he shot in self-defense. Glover’s wife testified that Leslie hit Glover, knocking him down, and continued to beat and kick Glover all the way to their car. When Glover reached for his gun, Leslie grabbed the gun case and spun around. The two men were struggling when Glover started shooting. Mrs. Glover did not see Leslie with any weapon. After reviewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury’s determination of guilt, we conclude that a rational trier of fact could have found Glover guilty of the crime charged.
2. To be entitled to a new trial based on a voir dire examination, a defendant must show that (1) the juror failed to answer honestly a material question on voir dire and (2) a correct response would have provided a valid basis for a challenge for cause.
On the first issue, the record is unclear about whether Sanford Wise, the juror who served as foreman, was asked about his prior law enforcement experience. Defense counsel asked only one of the two jury panels if any family member, close friend, “or yourself” had
Even if Wise were on the panel questioned about jurors’ personal experience in law enforcement, Glover has failed to meet his burden on the second issue. Although we have adopted the rule that a full-time police officer who is challenged for cause in a criminal case must be excused,
3. The general rule in this state is that jurors may not impeach their own verdict.
We conclude that any statement that Wise made concerning Glover’s possible sentence is not the type of outside information that is so prejudicial that the verdict is inherently lacking in due process. Unlike other cases in which a conviction has been reversed, there was no discussion between the jury and a non-juror about the sentence
Judgment affirmed.
The shooting occurred on April 4,1998. Glover was indicted on July 14,1998. The jury found him guilty on December 16, 1998, and the trial court sentenced him to life imprisonment on December 17,1998. Glover filed a motion for a new trial on January 18,1999, which was denied on October 18, 1999. Glover was granted a motion for out-of-time appeal and filed an amended notice of appeal on March 31, 2000. The case was docketed in the clerk’s office on March 29, 2001, and submitted for decision on briefs on May 21, 2001.
See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307 (99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979).
See Royal v. State, 266 Ga. 165, 166 (465 SE2d 662) (1996); Gainesville Radiology Group v. Hummel, 263 Ga. 91, 92-94 (428 SE2d 786) (1993); see also Isaacs v. State, 259 Ga. 717, 741 (386 SE2d 316) (1989) (adopting rule from McDonough Power Equipment v. Greenwood, 464 U. S. 548 (104 SC 845, 78 LE2d 663) (1984)).
McDonough, 464 U. S. at 555.
See Hutcheson v. State, 246 Ga. 13, 14 (268 SE2d 643) (1980).
See Mosher v. State, 268 Ga. 555, 557 (491 SE2d 348) (1997).
See Pace v. State, 271 Ga. 829, 835 (524 SE2d 490) (1999) (corrections officer and security guard); Barnes v. State, 269 Ga. 345, 351 (496 SE2d 674) (1998) (corrections officer and firefighter married to police officer); Mosher, 268 Ga. at 557 (firearms instructor who previously worked as a sworn police officer with three different departments).
See OCGA § 17-9-41.
See Spencer v. State, 260 Ga. 640, 643 (398 SE2d 179) (1990).
See, e.g., Turpin v. Todd, 271 Ga. 386, 389-390 (519 SE2d 678) (1999) (vacating death sentence due to an improper communication between bailiff and jury about parole eligibility).
See Steele v. State, 216 Ga. App. 276 (454 SE2d 590) (1995) (juror copied encyclopedia’s definitions of manslaughter and read her notes to jury, which relied on that information in reaching its verdict); Moore v. State, 172 Ga. App. 844 (324 SE2d 760) (1984) (juror studied Reader’s Digest book on the law and told jurors what he had gotten from the book).
See Watkins v. State, 237 Ga. 678, 683-685 (229 SE2d 465) (1976) (two jurors visited crime scene and presented their findings to other jurors).
Concurring Opinion
concurring specially.
I concur fully in Division 1 of the majority opinion in this case, and in the holding in Division 2 that Glover has not adequately shown that juror Wise failed to answer honestly a question regarding his experience in law enforcement. I cannot, however, concur in the rest of Division 2 because I harbor serious doubts about the validity of the second half of the standard employed by the majority, the requirement that “a correct response would have provided a valid basis for a challenge for cause.” That standard sets the stage for defendants being deprived of the valuable right to make peremptory challenges because it leaves a defendant without a remedy when false answers on voir dire conceal information on which a peremptory challenge would have been based. Therefore, I am unable to concur with the portion of the majority opinion applying that questionable standard.
I am authorized to state that Justice Hunstein joins this concurring opinion.
Reference
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