Byron Warren was sentenced to life imprisonment and a term of years for malice murder and armed robbery arising out of the shooting death of Gabriel Rodriguez. He appeals the denial of his motion for new trial,1 challenging the admission of hearsay evidence, the propriety of certain jury instructions and the trial court’s finding that his trial counsel was not ineffective. For the reasons that follow, we affirm in part and reverse in part. 1. Construed in a light to support the verdict, the evidence established that the victim was robbed and then shot to death in the parking lot at his girlfriend’s apartment complex. The girlfriend found the victim’s body face down beside the passenger side of his vehicle the following morning. Brandon Johnson, a paid informant, told two police detectives that appellant had bragged to him about “robbing and busting a Mexican” with a nine millimeter handgun. The police arrested appellant who, after executing a written waiver of his rights, gave a taped statement in which he admitted that he, Alonzo Bumpers and Timothy Richardson drove into the parking lot of the apartment complex looking for an Hispanic person to rob; they approached the victim as he stood by the passenger side door of his truck; the men demanded money and Bumpers took the victim’s wallet; Bumpers and Richardson released the victim and ran away; the victim then grabbed appellant, who shot the victim once during the struggle; and appellant rejoined his accomplices, who gave him $10 as his share of the robbery proceeds and drove him back to a party. Appellant’s statement was played for the jury. At trial, expert testimony established that the victim was shot once with a nine millimeter weapon and that the victim was more than three feet away from the weapon when it was fired. Appellant’s accomplices entered negotiated pleas to lesser charges and testified against appellant, with Richardson stating that he remained in the car during the crime and Bumpers stating that he ran from the scene after getting the victim’s wallet and did not see appellant shoot the victim.
The evidence adduced was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find appellant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the charged crimes. Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U.S. 307 99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560 1979.
