Mario Roberto Navarrete was convicted of felony murder, aggravated assault, and other crimes arising from the stabbing death of Richard Davis.1 On appeal, Navarrete asserts that the evidence was constitutionally insufficient to support his convictions, that the trial court improperly admitted certain hearsay testimony under the necessity exception, and that he was denied effective assistance of trial counsel. Finding no reversible error, we affirm. Viewed in a light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence established that Navarrete, his co-indictees Jacob Burgoyne, Douglas Woodcoff, and Alberto Martinez, as well as the victim, Richard Davis, served together as infantrymen in the United States Army.2
The crimes occurred soon after the five men returned to Fort Benning, Georgia, from a six-month deployment to Iraq and Kuwait. On the evening in question, Martinez drove Navarrete, Burgoyne, Woodcoff, and Davis to a Hooters restaurant to celebrate their homecoming. On the way there, Martinez showed the others a new knife which he kept in the console of his car. The five men spent the next few hours at the restaurant having dinner and consuming several pitchers of beer. Martinez then drove them to an adult entertainment club. At some point in the evening, the club’s bouncer approached Woodcoff and Martinez and asked them to remove Davis because he was visibly intoxicated. Woodcoff and Martinez escorted Davis to Martinez’s car, placed him in the back seat, and returned to the club where they continued drinking. Approximately two hours later, the four men left the club and returned to the car. Burgoyne pulled Davis out of the back seat and without provocation, began to beat him. The others stood by but made no attempt to stop the fight. Subsequently, the five men again got into Martinez’s car; Navarrete and Burgoyne sat in the back seat with Davis between them, and Woodcoff was in the front passenger seat. Martinez drove to a rural, wooded area about 20minutes away. During the drive, Navarrete and Burgoyne continued to beat Davis, despite Woodcoff’s entreaties for them to stop.
