Sheila Denton was convicted of felony murder in the death of 73-year-old Eugene Garner as well as giving a false name to law enforcement officers. She appeals from the denial of her motion for new trial1 challenging the sufficiency of the evidence and the admission of bad character evidence. Finding no reversible error, we affirm. 1. The evidence adduced at trial authorized the jury to find that Denton had been to the victim’s home and, having previously sold him food items, knew that he carried large amounts of cash. Within the time frame of the murder, Denton went to a crack house with a bite mark on her left arm and cuts on her arms, legs and hands; asked Sharon Jones, a resident at the crack house, to let her inside because “I did something”; and, when Jones then asked “what’s wrong with you, what happened,” Denton responded, “I just killed the man that stay in front of Walley’s,” a local convenience store near the victim’s residence. Denton, who typically had little money, purchased $300 worth of crack cocaine from Jones. Denton later gave a false name to police officers who were searching for her and, once the officers learned her true identity, fled into nearby woods in an attempt to evade capture.
Neighbors of the victim called the police after entering his house, observing signs of a struggle, smelling natural gas inside and finding the victim lying face down in his bedroom. The responding officers discovered that all of the gas stove burners were on but with the pilot lights extinguished. Once the house cleared of gas, the victim’s body was recovered with empty pants pockets pulled out of his pants. Expert testimony established that the victim died from manual strangulation in conjunction with extensive blunt force trauma, which had been inflicted in part with a rod-shaped object; that he had a bite mark on his right forearm; and that his body had been doused with a liquid chemical. A forensic dentist opined that Denton probably caused the bite mark on the victim’s arm and that the victim probably caused the bite mark on Denton’s arm.
