Adams v. State

Appellant Carl Ray Adams was convicted of malice murder in connection with the shooting death of his roommate, Randall Johnson, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Adams now appeals his conviction on the grounds that the evidence was insufficient and that trial counsel was ineffective. Finding no error, we affirm.1

Viewed in a light most favorable to the jury’s verdicts, the evidence adduced at trial established as follows. Adams is a Vietnam War veteran who has been diagnosed and treated for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD; he is also an alcoholic. Around the time of the murder, Adams stopped taking his PTSD-related medication and relapsed into heavy drinking. On the day in question, he and Johnson consumed alcohol, watched football in a common living space, and, at some point, began arguing about whether Adams caused Johnson to break up with his girlfriend. The argument continued later in the evening, at which point Adams visited the restroom, then retrieved a pistol from the bedroom and returned to the living room where he shot Johnson. Adams thereafter called 911, and, during that call, Adams told the dispatcher that he had shot Johnson due to maximum aggravation following a verbal altercation. In a subsequent statement to investigators, Adams stated that he just snapped following the argument and that he shot Johnson after going over the edge. Adams was clear in this statement to investigators that Johnson never threatened him and that, while he was in a daze at the time of the murder, he was not in a different world and was not crazy. Jurors also heard testimony that Adams was calm and in control following the murder.