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Harvey v. State

DNA evidence matching the defendant, handwriting analysis of a note police found on the victim's body, and similar transaction witnesses' testimonies supported the defendant's convictions for malice murder, rape, aggravated sodomy and aggravated assault in connection with the victim's strangulation death.

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Appellant Michael Darnell Harvey was convicted of malice murder, rape, aggravated sodomy, and aggravated assault in connection with the strangulation death of Valerie Payton.1 He appeals from the denial of his motion for new trial in which he challenged the sufficiency of the evidence and asserted the trial court erred in the admission of similar transaction evidence. Finding no error in the denial of his motion, we affirm.

1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the jury was authorized to find that on October 19, 1994, Harvey fatally strangled, raped, sodomized, and assaulted Payton. Her nude body was discovered in an area frequented by Harvey with over 50 post-mortem incision wounds and a handwritten note stating, “I’M BACK ATLANTA, MR. X.” Medical examiners took vaginal and rectal DNA swabs; however, no DNA match was found using the RFLP DNA test available at the time. In 2004, Payton’s preserved DNA swabs were sent to a private laboratory for contemporary testing using the STRS DNA test. That laboratory identified a distinct male profile. These test results were sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in 2005, and after comparison with Georgia’s DNA database, the GBI concluded the male DNA profile taken from Payton’s body matched Harvey’s DNA profile. Despite Harvey’s denial that he knew or had sexually assaulted Payton, a subsequent STRS DNA test confirmed the DNA match. Handwriting analysis determined the note found on Payton’s body may have been written by Harvey. The State also presented the testimony of three similar transaction witnesses who testified that appellant manually choked, raped and sodomized them at a time within two years of the crimes charged.

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