Appellant Alton Twyon Glenn was convicted of and sentenced to two consecutive sentences of life imprisonment for malice murder and feticide following the death of Misty Jane Johnson who, when she was killed, was carrying a 16-week-old fetus.1 On appeal Glenn challenges the denial of his motion to suppress evidence seized pursuant to ten search warrants, and the denial of his motion to exclude the hearsay testimony of the victim’s girlfriend in which she related statements she said the victim made to her. The victim’s body, with her clothing severely burned, was found in a dumpster at a shopping mall in Carrollton, Georgia, at about 4 p.m. on December 4, 2001. A plastic bag encased her head and was secured by a rope around her neck. The forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy testified that the victim had suffered several crescent-shaped lacerations on her head that could have been inflicted by a claw hammer found in a search of appellant’s apartment. The expert found the victim’s cause of death to be asphyxia caused by manual strangulation, with blunt-force trauma to the head a contributing factor. The pathologist determined the fetus found within Ms. Johnson to have a gestational age of four months. A representative of the manufacturer of the rope found around the victim’s neck testified that appellant’s employer was one of two Georgia companies who had purchased that type of rope from the manufacturer, and appellant’s work supervisor testified that appellant had access to the employer’s supply of rope. A forensic DNA analyst testified that blood found on the headboard of appellant’s bed, on the boots he was wearing when he was arrested, and on a napkin recovered from the trunk of his car matched the DNA profile of the victim. Testing on matter found in the victim’s vaginal area matched the DNA profiles of both appellant and the victim.
The victim’s roommate and long-time friend testified that the victim had told her that she was involved in a sexual relationship with appellant, that appellant was the father of the child she was carrying, and that she and appellant were “weighing their options” with regard to terminating the pregnancy, but the victim could not go through with a termination since she had felt the fetus move in utero. The roommate testified that the victim told her she was expecting a phone call from appellant after he finished work at 1 a.m. on December 4 and that he was going to drive by and pick her up. The roommate testified that she answered the phone at 1:19 a.m., that she recognized appellant’s voice as the caller, that the victim took the call and left the apartment several minutes later. At 10 a.m. on December 4, appellant called the witness and said he had not seen the victim.
