Long v. State

The defendant's convictions for aggravated assault should have merged into his armed robbery convictions, since there was no element of aggravated assault, which required proof that was not contained in the armed robbery indictments.

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Charles Long and Jamie Watkins were jointly tried for and convicted of numerous crimes committed against Dennis Banks and Nathaniel Woodard.1 We have already affirmed Watkins’s convictions. See Watkins v. State , 285 Ga. 107 674 SE2d 275 2009. For the reasons that follow, we affirm Long’s convictions in part, vacate his two aggravated assault convictions and sentences, and remand the case to the trial court for resentencing. 1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence at trial showed that the victims drove to an apartment complex with Frazier Todd, a friend of Long and Watkins, to buy some marijuana. Todd exited the victims’ car, which was parked in the front of the complex, and walked to the back of the complex, where he spoke with Long and Watkins about selling marijuana to the victims. Long and Watkins, who both had handguns, then walked to the front of the complex and approached the victims while they were sitting in their car. Long approached Banks on the driver’s side and Watkins approached Woodard on the passenger’s side.

Woodard testified that Long asked if they were police officers and pulled out a gun. The victims said they were not police officers. Long began yelling at the victims to give them everything the victims had. Long then started hitting Banks in the head with his gun, and Banks began to cry and was “drenched in blood,” which was “coming from everywhere all over his head.” Watkins then started beating Woodard with his gun and broke a bone between Woodard’s eyes. Watkins’s gun fired while he was beating Woodard, and the bullet hit Banks in the head and killed him. Long and Watkins robbed the victims of their cell phones and wallets.

Long v. State

The defendant's convictions for aggravated assault should have merged into his armed robbery convictions, since there was no element of aggravated assault, which required proof that was not contained in the armed robbery indictments.

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