Appellant Demarcus Graves was convicted of malice murder and related offenses in connection with the shooting death of Samuel Landers. Graves now appeals his convictions on the grounds that the evidence was insufficient, that the trial court improperly admitted similar transaction evidence, and that he was entitled to a mistrial after the State elicited improper character evidence. Though we find no merit in Graves’ enumerations, we do find error in certain aspects of Graves’ sentences, and we must, therefore, vacate and remand for resentencing.1
Viewed in a light most favorable to the jury’s verdicts, the evidence adduced at trial established as follows. In September 2006, law enforcement responded to a 911 call reporting a shooting at the Colony Square Apartment Complex in Fulton County, Georgia; the caller reported seeing two men running from the shooting, a taller man with dreadlocks or braids, and a shorter man who wore his hair in twists. At the scene, law enforcement officers discovered Landers in the driver’s seat of his well-maintained Chevrolet El Camino, dead from multiple gunshot wounds. In February 2007, Landers’ family offered a $5,000 reward in an effort to help solve the murder. Shortly thereafter, Jabarie Glover came forward and met with investigators. According to Glover, Graves and a second man, Jasper Adams, had admitted to him that they decided to rob Landers after he arrived at the apartment complex to buy marijuana. Glover reported that Adams got into the passenger side of Landers’ vehicle with a gun, that Adams and Landers wrestled for the gun, and that Graves, upon seeing the struggle, walked over to the vehicle, grabbed the gun from the men and shot Landers. In February 2008, federal inmate Autrey Love reported to investigators that Graves had made incriminating statements to him while both men were in federal custody in Atlanta. According to Love, Graves admitted that, while selling drugs at the Colony Square apartments, he and Adams decided to rob the victim of his El Camino. According to Love, Graves reported that Adams entered the passenger side of Landers’ vehicle with a gun, the two men struggled for the weapon, Graves grabbed the gun through the open driver-side window during the struggle, and Graves dumped the gun into Landers.
