Craig Renard Rembert, Jr., was tried by a Houston County jury and convicted of a single count of armed robbery.1 He now appeals from the denial of his motion for a new trial, arguing that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a continuance and instead excluding his alibi evidence. Rembert also claims that the trial court erred in admitting testimony that a witness had identified him from a video recording of the robbery, in admitting similar transaction evidence, and in denying his motion for a mistrial. Additionally, because the trial judge had served as the prosecutor in the case resulting in the similar transaction conviction, Rembert contends that the judge should have recused herself sua sponte from the current case. Finally, Rembert asserts that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. We find no merit in any of these claims of error and therefore affirm the denial of Rembert’s new trial motion.
On appeal from a criminal conviction, the defendant is no longer entitled to a presumption of innocence and we therefore construe the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury’s guilty verdict. Martinez v. State, 306 Ga. App. 512, 514 702 SE2d 747 2010. So viewed, the record shows that on the evening of January 9, 2011, Heather Jacobs was working at Seanna’s Lucky Cabin, a business that operated a game room and gift shop. The entrance to the business was always locked, and to gain admittance patrons had to ring the doorbell. An employee would admit prospective customers only if they were known to the employee or could provide the employee with a reference—i.e, the name of another known customer who had referred them to the business. On the night in question, Jacobs admitted a man she later identified as Rembert to Seanna’s. She admitted the man because, even though she did not know him by name, she had seen him in the business before and recognized him as a customer. The man waited until he was the only customer in the business and then approached Jacobs and asked her if she could change a $20 bill. When Jacobs opened the cash register to make change, the man pulled out a gun and told her to give him all the money in the register. After Jacobs complied with the man’s demand, he took her cell phone and forced her into the shop’s restroom. Following the incident, Jacobs used the cell phone of an arriving customer to report the robbery.
