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Gaines v. State

The defendant was not entitled to a charge on mistake of fact, since she based her defense on justification and self-defense and the trial court properly charged the jury on those legal principles.

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Following a jury trial, Jennifer Lynn Gaines appeals her conviction of aggravated assault1 and possession of a firearm during commission of a felony,2 contending that 1 the State failed to prove venue, and 2 the trial court erred in failing to give requested jury charges on reckless conduct, habitation, and mistake of fact. For the reasons that follow, we affirm. “On appeal from a criminal conviction, the evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to support the verdict, and the defendant no longer enjoys a presumption of innocence; moreover, an appellate court determines evidence sufficiency and does not weigh the evidence or determine witness credibility.” Punctuation omitted. Eady v. State .3

So viewed, the record shows that after Gaines and a friend had shared a pitcher of margaritas at lunch and consumed other alcohol, the two women returned to their apartment complex where they lived in adjacent apartments. People in the complex parking lot heard Gaines and her friend speaking loudly and acting intoxicated. When the friend’s live-in boyfriend returned from work, the friend began arguing loudly with her boyfriend in the parking lot, clutching at him and pursuing him as he tried to walk away. As the two argued loudly, Gaines came out of her apartment and confronted the boyfriend. When the boyfriend asked Gaines “What are you going to do”, Gaines retrieved a loaded pistol from her apartment and returned to the parking lot where she pointed it at the boyfriend’s head. A bystander told Gaines to put the gun down, at which point Gaines pointed the gun at the bystander, and the boyfriend snatched the gun from Gaines. The boyfriend removed the ammunition from the gun and placed it on a bench while another bystander called the police.

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