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Cowart v. State

The co-indictee's proffer statement improperly bolstered his credibility and should not have been admitted as a prior consistent statement.

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Alex Cowart and John A. Adams appeal their convictions for felony murder and other crimes related to the armed robbery of Sean Giroir, Michael Levi, John Silcox, and Miles Antle and the subsequent shootings that killed Giroir and injured Levi. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm Cowart’s convictions but remand his case for resentencing because he was improperly sentenced for two felony murder convictions based on the death of a single victim. And we reverse Adams’s convictions due to the erroneous and harmful admission of evidence bolstering the testimony of the key witness against him.1

1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence presented at trial by victims of the crimes and investigating officers showed the following. Late in the afternoon of October 28, 2010, Giroir, Levi, Silcox, and Antle were inside their house in Savannah when someone knocked at the door. Giroir opened it and was confronted by Cowart and co-indictee Daniel Izzo, who pointed guns at him and forced their way inside. The two intruders demanded money and drugs and told the victims to empty their pockets. Giroir handed over his cell phone and a bag containing unspecified amounts of marijuana and money.

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