Vincent Stokes, Bobby Joe Hobdy and Christopher Tinsley were jointly tried and convicted of malice murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in the shooting death of Marlo Mobley and the attack on Carletha Strickland and Rogenlee Williams outside a Ramada Inn in Kingsland, Georgia. We have consolidated their appeals from the denial of their motions for new trial.1 Finding no error, we affirm. 1. Evidence was adduced at trial that appellant Hobdy was beaten and robbed at his apartment by three men on March 26, 2004. The following day, victims Mobley, Strickland and Williams attended a party at the Ramada Inn Sports Bar. As they were leaving around midnight, they were struck by bullets fired by a man with a gun hanging out the rear passenger-side window of a gold SUV. Mobley was fatally shot in the chest; Strickland was hit below the eye; and Williams was struck twice in the buttocks. The jury was authorized to find that on March 27, 2004, appellant Hobdy drove his gold Tahoe SUV, with appellant Tinsley as his passenger, to Jacksonville, Florida to collect Jon Dantzler. On the trip back, Hobdy stated that he “wanted to straighten about his money” and drove to the Ramada Inn in Kingsland. Hobdy got in touch with appellant Stokes by cellphone and shortly thereafter Stokes arrived at the Ramada in a car driven by Amanda Milledge, accompanied by her friend Brandy Williams. Stokes and Tinsley then transferred several weapons, including a rifle, placed earlier by Stokes in Milledge’s car, into the SUV. The three appellants and Dantzler went into the Ramada but left the party shortly after appellant Tinsley had an exchange of words with Mobley, who then also left. Appellants and Dantzler got into Hobdy’s SUV. Hobdy drove the Tahoe slowly around the building and, while passing the front entrance, pointed to a person outside, stopped the vehicle and said “let him have it.” Stokes, who was sitting in the rear passenger side seat, opened fire. After leaving the scene, appellants dropped off Dantzler and picked up Coneshia Levy. Hobdy told Levy that while at the party at the bar he saw the men who had earlier robbed him; during the same conversation, Stokes commented that he “didn’t know if the victim’s dead because he’s still moving” and asked Tinsley whether “he” had hit anyone, to which question Tinsley responded that he did not know. Dantzler testified that the next day he contacted a former Federal agent he knew, which eventually led to Dantzler giving a statement to the police about the shooting.
The evidence was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find beyond a reasonable doubt that appellants were guilty of the crimes for which they were convicted either as perpetrators or parties to the crimes. Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U.S. 307 99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560 1979. The State introduced both direct and circumstantial evidence to prove that appellants rode in the Tahoe and participated in the shooting of the victims. See also OCGA § 16-2-20 b; Guyton v. State , __Ga.__ 1 Case No. S06A1532, decided February 26, 2007. Even assuming, as appellants argue, that Dantzler was an accomplice, the State presented additional corroborating evidence e.g., the testimony of Milledge, Brandy Williams, Levy and the surviving victims tending to connect appellants to the crime. See id. slight evidence from extraneous source identifying defendant as participant in the crime is sufficient to corroborate accomplice testimony.
