State v. Harris

Even though the judge who heard the defendant's new trial motion was not the same judge who presided over his original trial and therefore had a narrower scope of discretion, the successor court did not abuse its discretion in granting the defendant a new trial on the general grounds.

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The State appeals the superior court’s grant of a new trial to Xavier Harris, who was found guilty of felony murder and related crimes in connection with the August 1, 2005 fatal shooting of Ron Strozier and the conspiracy to commit aggravated assault with a deadly weapon of an individual known only as “D-Bone.” For the reasons that follow, we affirm. In March 2006, a Fulton County grand jury returned a 17-count indictment against Harris and four other men: Michael Grissom; Markell Dorsey; Rico Sims; and Darnell Amaker. Harris was named in all but four of the counts, which included charges of malice and felony murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy, criminal damage to property, and firearms possession.1 The defendants were all tried together, and the State argued that the crimes were related and part and parcel of the same conspiracy.

The State’s theory of the case was that a chain of events preceded the fatal incident, beginning with a physical altercation between Dorsey and D-Bone at a convenience store on July 31, 2005, during which D-Bone bested Dorsey. Seeking retribution, Dorsey enlisted his friend Sims to confront D-Bone; they walked through a wooded area between two apartment complexes in order to do so. Sims emerged from the woods wearing a bullet proof vest and armed with an assault rifle. D-Bone, and his group of friends, which included Strozier, waylaid Sims and took his vest and rifle. The following day, August 1, 2005, Harris accompanied Dorsey, Sims, Amaker, and Grissom to the “wooded cut” leading to one of the apartment complexes. The State maintained that Harris and the four co-defendants conspired to shoot Strozier and D-Bone, and “shoot up” D-Bone’s truck. As they walked through the cut to confront D-Bone, the men encountered Strozier, and Strozier was fatally shot.

State v. Harris

Even though the judge who heard the defendant's new trial motion was not the same judge who presided over his original trial and therefore had a narrower scope of discretion, the successor court did not abuse its discretion in granting the defendant a new trial on the general grounds.

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