Peterson v. State
Peterson v. State
Opinion of the Court
Allen James Peterson was convicted of felony murder and sentenced to life imprisonment for the shooting death of Dyniesha Smith. He appeals from the denial of his motion for a new trial.
Upon initial questioning at the hospital, appellant told police that Smith had been shot by an unidentified perpetrator who committed a drive-by shooting. As a result of this information, the police took appellant and his father to the police station in order to interview them about the incident while their vehicle was processed as part of the investigation into appellant’s claim of a drive-by shooting. Lacking evidence to support the claim of a random shooting, the police advised appellant of his constitutional rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U. S. 436 (86 SC 1602, 16 LE2d 694) (1966). Appellant then gave a statement to the police in which he blamed the shooting on a family acquaintance known as “Big Man.” Ultimately, during his trial testimony, appellant took responsibility for shooting Smith, but claimed that the shooting was the result of an accident and that Smith’s injury was inflicted when he tried to “unjam ... the handgun [and it] just went off.”
We conclude that the evidence adduced was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find appellant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the charged crimes. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307 (99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979).
2. Appellant contends that his statement made to the police after he was advised of his Miranda rights was improperly admitted because it was induced by the fear of injury; namely, the investigating officer’s screaming and chair-kicking during the interrogation. After conducting a hearing pursuant to Jackson v. Denno, 378 U. S. 368 (84 SC 1774, 12 LE2d 908) (1964), the trial court admitted appellant’s custodial statement. The resolution of factual issues by the trial court at the Jackson-Denno hearing will be upheld by the appellate court unless it is clearly erroneous. See J. E. W. v. State, 256 Ga. 464 (2) (349 SE2d 713) (1986). Our review of the interrogation reveals that, after the investigating officer noted a conflict in the original report by
Judgment affirmed.
The crimes occurred on May 24,2004. Appellant was indicted August 23,2004 in DeKalb County and charged with malice murder, felony murder and aggravated assault. He was tried and found guilty of felony murder and aggravated assault on March 24, 2005. The trial court merged the conviction for the aggravated assault into the felony murder count and sentenced
Reference
- Full Case Name
- PETERSON v. State
- Status
- Published