Skylar Hawkins and Octavious Woods were convicted of three counts of armed robbery and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime for robbing a waitress, a cook and a customer at a Waffle House. Both Hawkins and Woods argue that they were entitled to a mistrial because of certain testimony of an investigator, but we find that by instructing the jury to disregard the testimony, the trial court provided a sufficient remedy. Hawkins also argues that the trial court erred by limiting his cross-examination of the investigator for bias. We find, however, that any error in this regard was harmless. Hawkins argues that the testimony about his drug use impermissibly placed his character in issue, but the evidence was admissible as part of the res gestae of the crime. Woods argues that the trial court erred by admitting his statement to an investigator. We find that the trial court correctly determined that Woods had waived his Miranda rights. Finally, Woods argues that he was entitled to a mistrial because of the state’s violation of the rule of sequestration, but assuming such a violation occurred, the proper remedy was not a mistrial but instead was an instruction to the jury to consider the violation when assessing witness credibility. For these reasons, we affirm Hawkins’s and Woods’s convictions.
1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict, Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307 99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560 1979, the record shows the following relevant facts. On the evening of February 25, 2008, Hawkins, Woods, Logan White and Cordell Ward met at Hawkins’s residence. The men discussed committing a robbery, and White left for 10 or 15 minutes to get a gun. Eventually, they drove to a Waffle House in White’s Nissan pickup truck. Around 1:30 a.m., a customer went to the same Waffle House. When he arrived, he saw three men sitting in a booth, eating. Two Waffle House employees, a cook and a waitress, were also present. The three men paid for their food and exited the restaurant. The customer noticed that they went to the parking lot and stood around a Nissan truck with its hood raised.
