Heywood v. State

The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the defendant's request to postpone the trial to empanel a new set of prospective jurors after one such juror remarked during voir dire that the defendant reminded her of the gunman who assaulted her outside a bank.

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Jason Leon Heywood appeals his convictions for malice murder and other crimes related to the shooting death of Andrew Wilson. Appellant challenges the trial court’s refusal to continue the trial and empanel new prospective jurors based on a remark made during voir dire, his absence from bench conferences, the admission of certain blood spatter testimony, and the constitutionality of his sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. We affirm.1

1. The evidence presented at trial, viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, showed the following. On April 28, 2010, Appellant’s cousin, Claude Keith Hunter II, drove Appellant to an apartment complex parking lot where Hunter had previously arranged to sell the victim a quantity of marijuana for $1,250. Hunter parked his Saturn sedan beside the victim’s Nissan Altima, told Appellant to wait in the car, and then left the Saturn to go sit in the front passenger seat of the victim’s car. As Hunter was making the drug sale, Appellant jumped into the back seat of the victim’s car, pulled out a gun, and demanded all the victim’s money. When the victim tried to escape, Appellant hit him in the head with the gun and then used the victim’s seatbelt to choke him. The victim continued to struggle, and Appellant announced, “I’m fixing to shoot him, I’m fixing to shoot him,” and then shot the victim once in the back. The victim slumped over, and Appellant took cash from his pockets. Witnesses saw Appellant and his cousin wipe down the victim’s car before fleeing in the Saturn. The victim died at the hospital from the gunshot wound. A service receipt for the Saturn was found on the ground near the victim’s car.

Heywood v. State

The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the defendant's request to postpone the trial to empanel a new set of prospective jurors after one such juror remarked during voir dire that the defendant reminded her of the gunman who assaulted her outside a bank.

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