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Mitchell v. State

The trial court improperly excluded witness testimony based on the rule of sequestration, as the newly-discovered witnesses were not potential witnesses at the time the rule of sequestration was invoked, and the proper remedy for violating the rule was to instruct the jury that the violation should be considered in determining the credibility of the witnesses.

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A DeKalb County jury convicted Christopher Mitchell of armed robbery OCGA § 16-8-41. Mitchell appeals, contending that the trial court erred in excluding the testimony of two newly-discovered defense witnesses. He also contends that he had ineffective assistance of counsel. For the reasons that follow, we reverse.

At trial, the State relied primarily on the testimony of the victim, Ronald Haywood. Viewed in the light most favorable to the guilty verdict,1 the evidence showed that Haywood had previously worked with a man known by the nickname “Naro.” One day, Haywood mentioned to Naro that he wanted to buy a laptop computer, and Naro indicated that his cousin had one for sale. Shortly thereafter, Haywood sent a text message to Naro’s phone stating that he wanted to purchase the laptop, and he received a text reply from a man who identified himself as Naro’s cousin, stating that “Yes, I have the computer to sell.” Haywood and the man agreed to meet at a Church’s Chicken restaurant. The man then gave Haywood another phone number with which to contact him, and Haywood wrote the number down on a piece of paper. According to Haywood, he had never met nor seen Naro’s cousin before and did not know his name, but the man had indicated that he would be in a burgundy Ford Taurus.

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