Taylor v. State

A Clayton County jury found Xavious Taylor guilty of two counts of aggravated assault. Taylor appeals, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence. He also claims that he received ineffective assistance of counsel and that the trial court committed numerous errors at trial. For reasons that follow, we affirm. 1. In reviewing Taylor’s sufficiency challenge, we construe the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict.1 We do not weigh the evidence or resolve issues of witness credibility, but merely determine whether the jury was authorized to find Taylor guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.2

So viewed, the evidence shows that Taylor was a member of a rap group called the Hit Squad. On June 4, 2004, the Hit Squad and another rap group known as the Southside Mafia performed at a skating rink. Several members of the Hit Squad took offense to the Southside Mafia’s performance, and an altercation arose between the two groups. The police intervened, and the groups dispersed, but agreed to meet at a local park two days later to fight and “settle it.”