Killings v. State

A Clayton County jury found Travis J. Killings guilty of armed robbery. On appeal, Killings argues that the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict, that his custodial statement was improperly admitted into evidence, and that he received ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Finding no error, we affirm. Viewed in a light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence shows that at approximately 9:00 p. m. on February 28, 2003, Juan Mata parked in front of his residence at the Willow Park Apartments. Two men armed with a “big gun” approached the car and asked whether Mata had any marijuana or money. The men then took $50 or $60 from Mata. They ran into the woods when a neighbor saw that Mata was being robbed and cried out.

When the police arrived, Mata informed the officers that he had been robbed by two men at gunpoint. Officers searched in the direction that the suspects had fled and found a rifle in the bushes next to a building. Based on Mata’s description, police detained Killings and his co-defendant, Travianna M. Pitts, approximately a quarter mile from the scene of the robbery. Police took Mata to where the two men were being held, and Mata identified them. During his trial testimony, Mata again identified Killings and Pitts as the perpetrators. Killings also gave a custodial statement to police in which he implicated himself in the robbery.