Roger James Reed was indicted for the malice murder of Willie Lee Gatson, an alternative count of felony murder during the commission of aggravated assault, and the aggravated assault and aggravated battery of Gatson’s sister Nettie Porter. After a jury trial, Reed was acquitted of malice murder and found guilty of the remaining counts. The trial court entered judgments of conviction on the guilty verdicts, sentenced Reed as a recidivist under OCGA § 17-10-7 c to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for felony murder, and also imposed a concurrent 20-year term for aggravated assault and a consecutive 20-year term for the aggravated battery. A motion for new trial was denied, but the trial court vacated the sentence for aggravated assault pursuant to a concession by the State. Reed appeals, understandably raising no error regarding the vacated sentence. See Hill v. State , __Ga.__ Case Number S11A1914, decided February 6, 2012. 1. Construed most strongly in support of the verdicts, the evidence shows that Reed began arguing with Gatson during a party at the victims’ residence and began fighting with him afterwards. When Ms. Porter intervened in a second attempt to make Reed leave, she grabbed a hatchet to scare him away. Reed took the hatchet from her and struck the victims repeatedly on the head and face, fatally injuring Gatson and severely injuring and disfiguring Ms. Porter. Reed fled and, two blocks away, asked a police officer if he was there because of those ” ‘people getting beat up.’ ” Reed also lied to the officer when he identified his residence and when he stated that his brother was known by the nickname that Ms. Porter had used to identify her attacker. Subsequently, Reed, who was very excited and upset, told his brother that he had messed up and hit somebody with something. When Gatson’s nephew later saw Reed with scratches on his neck and blood on his shirt and hair, Reed yelled and denied the crimes. The next day, Reed again saw Gatson’s nephew, stated that he was just defending himself, and started to run when the police arrived. Ms. Porter identified Reed as the assailant both before and during trial. This evidence was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find Reed guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the felony murder of Gatson and the aggravated battery of Ms. Porter. Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U. S. 307 99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560 1979; Swanson v. State , 282 Ga. 39, 40-41 1 644 SE2d 845 2007; Rich v. State , 274 Ga. 695 558 SE2d 720 2002.
2. Reed contends that the felony murder count of the indictment failed to allege the essential elements of the predicate offense of aggravated assault and that it therefore is fatally deficient or insufficient as a matter of law and is void. This contention “is, in essence, a special demurrer seeking greater specificity with regard to the predicate felony. Reed’s failure to file a special demurrer seeking additional information before pleading not guilty to the indictment constitutes a waiver of his right to be tried on a perfect indictment. Cits.” Cit. Edmond v. State , 283 Ga. 507, 509-510 5 661 SE2d 520 2008.
