White v. State

Merger of the aggravated assault and murder convictions was not required, as there was evidence of a "deliberate interval" between the defendant shooting the victim and the subsequent beating, since an eyewitness testified that the victim took a long time to fall to the ground after he was shot, and the beating did not occur until after he fell to the ground.

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Following a jury trial, Adrian White was found guilty of malice murder, felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.1 On appeal, White contends that the trial court committed errors in charging the jury and sentencing and that trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the record shows that, on September 8, 2004, White, Marquez Webb, and Demario Thornton were watching television at the apartment of White’s mother, Patricia Dean. That evening, the three men went out to the apartment breezeway to smoke cigarettes. At that time, Anthony Jones, who was with his girlfriend, Arlene Long, drove by the breezeway. Jones made eye contact with White, Webb, and Thornton, and stopped his truck. Jones then asked Thornton why he was always making eye contact with him, and the two men began to argue. Jones exited his truck and approached, continuing his argument with Thornton. Webb intervened and tried to prevent a fight. After Dean called out from her apartment and asked White to return home, Jones decided to end the confrontation and began walking away. According to the trial testimony of Webb and Thornton, White then pulled up Thornton’s shirt, snatched the gun Thornton was carrying from his waistband, and shot Jones in the back. Both Webb and Thornton also testified that, following the shooting, they witnessed White beating Jones as he lay on the ground. In addition, Long testified that she witnessed the man whose mother called out to him shoot Jones. She also stated that, after Jones was shot, it took a long time for him to fall to the ground before the beating.

White v. State

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