Mister v. State

Demarcus Mister, Timothy Walker, and Willie Moore were jointly indicted for various crimes stemming from the shooting death of Marcus Talton and the shooting of John Johnson. Walker and Moore pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter for the shooting of Talton and aggravated assault for the shooting of Johnson and testified for the State at trial. A jury found Mister not guilty of malice murder, but guilty of felony murder and aggravated assault.1 Mister now appeals, and for the reasons that follow, we affirm. 1. About 1:30 p.m. on April 27, 2007, Gwinnett County police responded to a call of a shooting at the Bridgewater Apartments and found Talton lying at the bottom of a flight of stairs. Talton later died from injuries from a single gunshot wound. Talton, however, was conscious when the police arrived and told an officer that he had been shot by a person he knew as “Capone.” Talton also told the officer that “Capone” drove a Nissan truck. Evidence at trial showed that Moore’s nickname was “Capone,” but that Mister drove a Nissan truck. Several witnesses who called 911 told the operator that the victim told them that “Capone” had shot him.

Johnson testified that he and Talton went to the Bridgewater Apartments about 1:00 to 1:30 p.m. to buy 10 kilos of cocaine for $170,000. Neither Johnson nor Talton lived at Bridgewater, and they did not take $170,000 with them, as they wanted to “check out” the drugs before buying them. Johnson was acquainted with Moore and Walker, but did not know Mister. Johnson testified that Talton set up the drug deal, and that, when he and Talton arrived at the apartment complex, Mister met them in the parking lot, led them into a breezeway, and down a stairwell. Talton was walking in front of Johnson. Before they got to the bottom of the stairwell, Johnson saw two people wearing masks jump out from behind the stairwell. One of them pointed a gun at him and started shooting. Johnson turned and ran but was shot in the leg. He ran to his car, got in, and drove to a hospital. Johnson testified that he did not see Talton get shot.