Appellant Tony Lamar Thompson appeals his convictions for felony murder and related crimes regarding the death of Reynaldo Jackson.1 The evidence in a light most favorable to the verdict shows that in the early morning hours of April 4, 2010, appellant, Jackson, and Noel Williams drove together in Jackson’s truck to an apartment complex in DeKalb County for the purpose of buying drugs. Williams exited the vehicle and was walking around it when she suddenly heard gunshots. When she turned around, Williams saw appellant shooting into the truck from the passenger’s side. Appellant told Williams to help him move Jackson’s body and help him wipe fingerprints from the vehicle, but Williams stood still in shock, and so appellant pushed Jackson’s body back into the vehicle. Appellant then ran with Williams behind one of the apartment buildings. Appellant gave Williams his bloodied shirt and tried to give Williams the gun but she refused to take it and so appellant hid the gun in a crawl space. Appellant told Williams to go to his brother’s apartment and that he would meet her there. When Williams arrived at the brother’s apartment, no one was home and so she called a friend who picked her up from a restaurant near the apartment complex where the shooting took place. While riding in the friend’s car, Williams testified that she threw out appellant’s bloody shirt on the side of the interstate. Later that morning, an apartment resident found the victim’s body in the truck and she called 911. Because the resident recognized the victim as appellant’s associate, she also called appellant to tell him his “home boy” was dead. By this time, authorities had arrived and set up crime scene tape, keeping bystanders at a distance. The resident testified appellant came to the crime scene, but left after approximately ten minutes, saying he was going to church.
Upon returning home mid-morning on April 4, Williams testified she contacted the police in order to provide information about the victim’s murder. Detectives picked her up at her home and took her to the police station where she made a statement and identified appellant out of a photo line-up as the person who killed the victim. Williams then rode with police to show them where to find the murder weapon and the bloody shirt, both of which police were able to recover as evidence. Investigators also found three 9mm Luger Blazer shell casings near the passenger side of the victim’s truck, recovered a bullet fragment from the interior of the victim’s truck, and recovered two bullets from the victim’s body. At trial, the ballistics expert testified that the shell casings and projectiles had all been fired from the gun, which was a 9mm Luger, recovered with Williams’ assistance. DNA experts testified that the bloody shirt contained the victim’s blood DNA, as well trace amounts of appellant’s DNA on the shirt’s collar. Buttons found at the scene were consistent with the remaining buttons on the bloody shirt. A fingerprint analyst testified that appellant’s fingerprints matched fingerprints found on the exterior passenger door of victim’s truck. The medical examiner testified the victim was shot four times and that two of the gunshots were fatal: a gunshot to the face and a gunshot to the chest which damaged the victim’s lungs, heart and liver.
