A Muscogee County jury found Hendrick Nickerson guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of voluntary manslaughter, OCGA § 16-5-2 a; and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime against the person of another, OCGA § 16-11-106 b 1. The Superior Court of Muscogee County1 granted Nickerson’s motion for new trial based upon its finding that the judge who presided over the trial had impermissibly commented on the evidence, in violation of OCGA § 17-8-57, when he posed two questions to Nickerson during his testimony in the jury’s presence. The State appeals,2 arguing that the presiding judge’s questions did not violate OCGA § 17-8-57, and, as a result, Nickerson was not entitled to a new trial. After conducting a de novo review of the record and the superior court’s ruling,3 we conclude that the superior court erred and, thus, reverse the order granting Nickerson a new trial.
Viewed in favor of the jury’s verdict,4 the evidence showed that, on March 22, 2007, Nickerson was at his girlfriend’s house when she and the victim’s girlfriend began arguing. When the argument was over, Nickerson left the house and started walking toward his aunt’s house about two blocks away. Before he got there, however, the victim drove up and parked near him, exited the car, and walked toward Nickerson while holding a handgun. Nickerson, who had a handgun in his back pocket, backed away from the victim, who continued to walk toward him, while the two men argued loudly and cursed at one another. Shortly thereafter, as the victim turned away from Nickerson and appeared to be walking back to his car, Nickerson fired two shots toward the victim. One of the bullets hit the victim in the middle of his back, grazed his spinal column, esophagus, and aorta, and lodged in his heart; he later died as a result of the wound. When Nickerson realized that he had shot the victim, he approached him and repeatedly apologized to him before leaving the scene. According to a bystander, before police officers arrived, an unidentified man approached the victim, picked up the handgun that was on the ground near the victim’s hand, and ran away with it.5
