Lockheart v. State

Following a jury trial, Therron Lockheart was found guilty of murder, felony murder, and armed robbery in connection with the shooting death of Lucius Atkinson.1 On appeal, Lockheart contends that the evidence was insufficient to sustain one of his convictions, that the trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss the indictment, and that his trial counsel was ineffective. We affirm. 1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence reveals that, on March 24, 2001, Lockheart and co-defendant Andrew Fleming offered to give a ride to Lucius Atkinson. Atkinson got into Fleming’s car, and Fleming and Lockheart drove him to the residential subdivision where Lockheart lived. Lockheart pulled out a gun, pointed it at Atkinson who was still in the back seat of the car and told Atkinson to give him his money. Lockheart took Atkinson’s wallet and became angry when he saw that there was no money in it. Lockheart shot Atkinson in the neck and dumped Atkinson’s dead body, along with his wallet, in a parking lot next to the subdivision tennis courts.

The evidence was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find Lockheart guilty of all of the crimes for which he was convicted beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. State Virginia443 placecountry-regionU. S. 307 99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560 1979. See also James v. State , 232 placeStateGa.834, 835 209 SE2d 176 1974 “It is not required that the property taken be permanently appropriated in order for a defendant to be found guilty of armed robbery” citation omitted.