Blanch v. State

On appeal from his conviction for aggravated as well as simple battery, Andrew Blanch argues that the evidence was insufficient on the aggravated charge and that the trial court erred when it failed to charge the jury on the meaning of the term “maliciously” and when it admitted a prior conviction for impeachment purposes. We affirm. “On appeal from a criminal conviction, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, with the defendant no longer enjoying a presumption of innocence.” Reese v. State , 270 Ga. App. 522, 523 607 SE2d 165 2004. We neither weigh the evidence nor judge the credibility of witnesses, but determine only whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, a “rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U. S. 307, 319 III B 99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560 1979.

So viewed, the record shows that while he was imprisoned on an unrelated charge, Blanch told a jailer that someone had taken something of his. Blanch was angry, and said that if the jailer did not find the culprit from a video examination, “someone is going down.” That same morning, an inmate who had heard Blanch say that someone had taken his food offered Blanch his breakfast. Blanch then punched the inmate, knocking him out and causing bleeding from his ear and other injuries including a fractured septum. The same jailer who had heard Blanch’s threat saw him strike the inmate, who developed chronic nasal congestion after the attack.