Appellant Alvando Givens, Sr., was convicted of malice murder for the death of Voncetta Render.1 On June 4, 2006, the police responded to a suspicious vehicle call and found the victim’s body inside her green Pontiac Bonneville parked on the side of a road in Fulton County. The night of her death, the victim had gone out clubbing and then went home with appellant. At trial, appellant’s son, who was 9 years-old at the time, testified he heard a woman screaming from his father’s bedroom and the woman saying “Al, stop.” The son also heard stomping, hitting and slapping coming from the bedroom. After the noises from the bedroom stopped, the son said he heard appellant drag something toward the side door of the house, and then heard a car door and trunk close. The son saw a green car in front of the house that night which was not there when he got up in the morning. Later on that morning, the son overheard his father talking on the telephone about cleaning up anything that looked suspicious. Appellant’s stepdaughter, who was 14 years-old at the time, also heard appellant with a woman in his bedroom. The stepdaughter heard appellant ask the woman where his money was and the woman answering she did not have it. The stepdaughter heard the woman crying and heard slapping, punching, and crashing sounds as if someone was falling coming from appellant’s bedroom. Appellant left the room briefly and the stepdaughter saw appellant come into the living room where she and the son were lying on the couch pretending to sleep, and retrieve a gun from under the couch cushion. When appellant returned to the bedroom, the stepdaughter said the beating began anew. Soon thereafter the sounds from the woman grew faint and then the stepdaughter heard appellant leave the house. Appellant became a suspect in the murder when the children told their mother what they had heard and seen and their mother called police.
Evidence discovered during the investigation showed that the victim’s blood DNA was in appellant’s bedroom and on the shoes he was wearing on the night in question. The medical examiner testified that the victim received the following injuries at or around the time of death: blunt force trauma of the head and neck; bleeding around the brain; hemorrhaging of the scalp, hemorrhaging of the eyes, and hemorrhaging around the neck and throat muscles; blunt force trauma to the torso and extremities; and abrasions on the head including the face, torso, arms, and legs. The medical examiner determined that the cause of death was blunt force trauma of the head and neck, noting in particular that the victim’s death was caused by a combination of manual strangulation and striking of the head.
