After a jury trial, Lerone Powell was convicted of false imprisonment1 and misdemeanor family violence battery.2 Powell appeals, challenging, among other things, the sufficiency of the evidence and arguing that the trial court’s jury charge permitted the jury to find Powell guilty of family violence battery in a manner other than that charged in the indictment. For the reasons that follow, we affirm Powell’s false imprisonment conviction, but reverse his conviction for family violence battery. Viewing the facts in the light most favorable to the verdict,3 the record shows that Powell and D. G. were romantically involved at different times since 2002, and D. G. previously had lived with Powell. On November 5, 2006, the two were smoking crack cocaine in a hotel room when they began to argue, which escalated from words to physical violence. An individual in a neighboring hotel room heard the argument and called 911, reporting that it sounded like a woman in Powell’s room needed help and that a man might have been putting a pillow over her face. Officer Manuel Williams responded to the call and knocked on the door to Powell’s room, but no one answered and someone turned out the lights. Williams had hotel management unlock the door, but Williams could not enter because the chain latch was engaged on the door’s interior. After the door was cracked, the officer attempted to enter the room until D. G. unlatched the door and exited the room. Williams stated that D. G. was screaming and crying, and she told him she could not breathe because Powell had been trying to suffocate her with a pillow. D. G. had bruises on her face and arms, which were photographed the day after the altercation.
D. G. explained that Powell had become angry, threatened to kill her, and then choked her with his hands. She fell to the floor, and Powell kneeled on her arms to pin her and continued choking her with his hands. Powell then used a pillow to smother her, occasionally bringing the pillow off her face, but then replacing it. D. G. said that Powell would not release her until the door was unlocked by hotel management.
