Following a jury trial, Darrian Dewayne Bryant was convicted on one count of rape,1 one count of false imprisonment,2 three counts of aggravated assault,3 and nine counts of burglary.4 Bryant now appeals from the denial of his motion for a new trial, asserting that the trial court erred in: 1 denying his motion to sever the charges of rape, false imprisonment, aggravated assault, and the burglary charge related thereto from his trial on the remaining burglary charges; 2 denying his motion to suppress evidence obtained from a pair of shoes seized during a police search of his residence; 3 allowing a police detective to testify as to the reasons why Bryant became the primary suspect in their investigation; 4 allowing hearsay testimony as to a victim’s prior statements concerning the aggravated assault on her; 5 instructing the jury on the use of prior consistent statements and on the impeachment of witnesses by their prior inconsistent statements; and 6 allowing the State to strike both of the black females from the jury pool. Bryant further claims that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction on one of the aggravated assault charges. Discerning no error, we affirm. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, Lawrence v. State 5, the record shows that this case arose out of a series of burglaries that occurred in and around the Lakebrooke Run subdivision in Gwinnett County, between June 2006 and March 2007. All of the burglaries shared certain similarities. Specifically, they all occurred during the day, when the home’s occupants were away at work or school. Seven of the nine burglaries at issue in this case occurred either during a school vacation or after the date on which Bryant had dropped out of school. In each case, the intruder gained access to the residence by breaking in through a back window. The intruder typically ransacked the home, taking jewelry, money, DVDs, video games, and small electronic items, such as iPods, cameras, DVD players, and video-gaming systems.
During one of the burglaries, the homeowner’s teenage daughter arrived home from school and discovered the intruder. The burglar placed a bag over the daughter’s head, bound her hands, and dragged her from the hallway to the living room, where he raped her. The intruder then demanded money, and the daughter led him to the master bedroom, where he ransacked drawers and an armoire, taking the jewelry he found there. He then dragged or pushed the daughter down the stairs on her back, and pushed her into one or more pieces of furniture on the lower level, before hitting her over the head with a glass vase.
