Leon Tollette was indicted for malice murder, armed robbery, and other crimes, stemming from the shooting death of John Hamilton, a Brinks employee who, at the time, was picking up cash from a SouthTrust bank. The State served written notice of intent to seek the death penalty. On the first day of jury selection, Tollette pled guilty to one count each of malice murder, felony murder, armed robbery, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and to two counts of aggravated assault.1 At the conclusion of the sentencing trial, the jury fixed the sentence for malice murder at death after finding beyond a reasonable doubt that Tollette committed the murder during the commission of the capital felony of armed robbery and that he committed the murder for the purpose of receiving money or any other thing of monetary value. See OCGA § 17-10-30 b 2 and 4. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm. 1. The trial evidence established that Xavier Wommack had been planning a crime in Columbus, Georgia, and he invited Tollette to travel from Los Angeles, California, to join him. When Tollette arrived in Columbus, he and Wommack, along with a third man, Jakeith Robinson, finalized plans for the armed robbery of an armored truck. On December 21, 1995, the group followed a Brink’s armored truck to the SouthTrust bank. Tollette sat waiting with a newspaper near the bank, Wommack stood guard across the street, and Robinson sat ready as the getaway driver. As victim John Hamilton returned from the bank to the Brink’s truck with a money bag, Tollette approached Hamilton from behind and then fired at close range into his head, back, and legs, killing him. Carl Crane, the driver of the Brink’s truck, and Cornell Christianson, the driver of a nearby Lummus Fargo truck, chased Tollette and fired shots at him as he fled with the money bag; Tollette returned fire at his pursuers. Wommack fired shots from across the street to aid in Tollette’s escape; however, Wommack and Robinson ultimately drove away without Tollette. Robert Oliver, a police technician, responded to the radio call of a detective at the scene. When confronted by Oliver, Tollette attempted to fire at him and at a cadet who accompanied him, but all of the bullets in Tollette’s revolver were already spent. Tollette threw down his revolver and surrendered.
Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, we find that the evidence adduced at trial was sufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find beyond a reasonable doubt the existence of the statutory aggravating circumstances in this case. Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U.307 99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560 1979; OCGA § 17-10-35 c 2.
