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Tennyson v. State

The defendant ran over the unarmed victim three times with his vehicle, killing him.

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A jury found Tommie Raquest Tennyson guilty of felony murder during the commission of aggravated assault. The trial court entered a judgment of conviction on the guilty verdict, and imposed a life sentence. Tennyson filed a motion for new trial and, when that motion was denied, he brought this appeal from his conviction and sentence. 1. Construing the evidence most strongly in support of the jury’s guilty verdict shows that, after engaging in a heated verbal exchange with Allen King, Tennyson started a car and then ran over the unarmed victim three times. This evidence is sufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find proof of Tennyson’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt of felony murder during the commission of aggravated assault. Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U. S.307 99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560 1979.

2. The trial court gave a charge that included the level of certainty as one of the elements the jury could consider in assessing the reliability of a witness’ identification testimony. In Brodes v. State , 279 Ga. 435, 442 614 SE2d 766 2005, which was decided after Tennyson’s conviction, this Court held that “we can no longer endorse an instruction authorizing jurors to consider the witness’s certainty in his/her identification as a factor to be used in deciding the reliability of that identification.” Having preserved the right to challenge on appeal the trial court’s charge, Tennyson enumerates as error the giving of this instruction which was subsequently disapproved in Brodes . However, the record shows that he actually requested the charge himself. Therefore, this enumeration is without merit. Inman v. State , 281 Ga. 67, 69 2 635 SE2d 125 2006.

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