McNair v. State

A witness's prior out-of-court statements regarding whether he rented a vehicle involved in several robberies to the defendant were properly admitted for impeachment purposes, since the witness denied at trial that he owned the car or rented it to anyone.

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A Richmond County jury found Darrell McNair guilty of four counts of armed robbery, OCGA § 16-8-41 a; and four counts of possessing a firearm during the commission of a crime, OCGA § 16-11-106 b. McNair appeals from the denial of his motion for a new trial. He argues that the trial court erred in admitting certain evidence and in failing to give the jury a limiting instruction. He also contends the court erred in denying his motion for a new trial on his claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. Finding no reversible error, we affirm.

Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict,1 the record shows the following. During the Spring of 2012, the Augusta Police Department investigated a series of armed robberies that they discovered were related. The first occurred on March 25, 2012, when William Moody and Saxon Washington were robbed at gunpoint. Moody testified that he and Washington were standing in the driveway of Washington’s Richmond County home, repairing a car. Moody noticed a gray Pontiac Grand Am parked a short distance away and suspected that the occupants, two men and a woman, were watching them. Shortly thereafter, the woman drove the Pontiac away and the two men walked up and asked them for marijuana. One of the men pulled a gun from his waistband, pointed it at Moody, and demanded money. The other man searched the victims’ pockets. The men took Washington’s wallet and about $480 from Moody. Moody called the police, who responded quickly. Although the police were unable to locate the robbers, they found Washington’s wallet in the street a short distance away. Moody speculated that the robbers had escaped in the car he had seen earlier. In their report, the police noted the victims’ description of the car and of the robbers, including that one of them had distinctive facial tattoos.

McNair v. State

A witness's prior out-of-court statements regarding whether he rented a vehicle involved in several robberies to the defendant were properly admitted for impeachment purposes, since the witness denied at trial that he owned the car or rented it to anyone.

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