A jury convicted Tyrell Campbell of malice murder and other felonies in connection with the shooting death of Gary Paul Francis.1 On appeal, Campbell contends that the trial court erred in its jury instructions and in conducting critical stages of the trial outside his presence. Finding no reversible error, we affirm.
1. The evidence presented at trial shows that the 24-year-old Campbell lived briefly with Francis and his girlfriend, Ykeme Smith, while attending college in October 2005. Smith asked Campbell to move out of their house after he dumped cigar ashes on food in a take-out container and failed to clean up after his dog. On November 3, 2005, Francis and Smith confronted Campbell in the early evening while he was visiting at a neighbor’s house and accused him of stealing Francis’s clothes. One of them had a pipe bender used in plumbing, and they were “cussing,” pushing, and shoving Campbell. When the fight ended, Francis and Smith walked back to their house where Francis placed the pipe in their bedroom and put on a shirt. Campbell drove a friend home and came back to the neighbor’s house approximately 20 minutes later. He was standing on the porch with George Parks when Francis and Smith walked past. They were calling and threatening Campbell from the sidewalk, and Smith still had the pipe in her hand. Parks testified that Campbell said he had better leave before he hurt one of them, then got into his car and drove away in the opposite direction. As Francis and Smith were turning the street corner, Campbell pulled up beside them and they exchanged more words. He drove past them, then backed up, and Francis approached the car. Smith was approximately 30 feet away when she saw Campbell pull out his gun and shoot Francis one time. Francis was taken to the hospital where he died a half hour later from a gunshot wound to the chest. Three days later, police officers arrested Campbell and searched his car, finding a book bag containing a .380 caliber handgun. An expert in firearms analysis testified that the cartridge case found at the crime scene was ejected from the gun in Campbell’s book bag. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury’s determination of guilt, we conclude that a rational trier of fact could have found Campbell guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes charged. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307 99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560 1979.
