Houston v. State

The evidence showed that the defendant either committed an armed robbery or no crime at all, and his trial counsel was therefore not deficient in failing to request a jury instruction on the lesser included charges of robbery and theft by taking.

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A jury found Anthony Houston guilty of armed robbery.1 Following the denial of his motion for new trial, Houston appeals, asserting as error the trial court’s ruling on an objection and also asserting that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. For the following reasons, we affirm.

Construed in favor of the verdict, the evidence showed that the victim stopped to offer a ride to her friend Kristlin Simmons and Simmons’ boyfriend, Houston, whom the victim did not know. Simmons and Houston were walking down the street around midnight. Houston told the victim that they did not need a ride, but Simmons decided to accept the victim’s offer and got into the front passenger’s seat. After Simmons entered the car, Houston pulled her out and repeatedly told her b, you’re not going nowhere. Houston took Simmons’ belongings and threw them out into the street. When Simmons objected to his actions, Houston slapped her. The victim became nervous and scared because Houston was throwing . . . things and cussing and fussing. After arguing with Simmons for a moment, Houston jumped into the passenger side of the victim’s car, pulled out a gun, ordered the victim out of the car, and then put the gun to the victim’s face and he was, like, give me everything you’ve got. The victim told Houston that she did not have anything and begged him to allow her to remove her baby from the back seat: My purse was in the car. My baby was in the car. I said, I don’t have anything. Everything I got is in the car. I said, you just let me get my baby, you know, you can just leave. After allowing the victim to get her baby, Houston drove away in the victim’s car. The victim’s and Simmons’ testimony that Houston pulled out a gun was uncontradicted.

Houston v. State

The evidence showed that the defendant either committed an armed robbery or no crime at all, and his trial counsel was therefore not deficient in failing to request a jury instruction on the lesser included charges of robbery and theft by taking.

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