Billings v. State

The trial court erred in failing to merge the defendant's conviction for armed robbery into his felony murder conviction and in sentencing him to a separate life sentence for that crime.

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Appellant Leonard Billings was convicted of felony murder, armed robbery, burglary and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime in connection with the shooting death of Michael Clay. The trial court sentenced him to life imprisonment on the felony murder conviction.1 Billings appeals from the denial of his motion for new trial on various grounds. For the reasons that follow, we affirm in part and vacate in part. 1. The jury was authorized to find that appellant and co-indictee Jesus Figueroa went to Clay’s apartment, knocked on the door, and when Clay answered, Figueroa shot Clay once in the chest and twice more in the shoulder and back with a .380 handgun as Clay attempted to flee. Appellant and Figueroa then entered the apartment and searched for drugs they believed were inside. After emptying the victim’s pockets, they took a shot gun they found in a closet and ran from the apartment. Appellant sold the .380 to his cousin who later turned it over to police. Expert testimony established that the bullets recovered from Clay and the crime scene were shot from the gun sold by appellant.

We find the evidence was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find appellant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes for which he was convicted. Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U.S. 307 99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560 1979. The trial court properly sentenced appellant to life in prison for felony murder with armed robbery as the underlying felony. OCGA § 16-5-1 d. However, the record reveals that rather than merge the armed robbery conviction into the felony murder conviction, see Johnson v. State , 254 Ga. 591 4 331 SE2d 578 1985, the trial court sentenced appellant to a separate life sentence for armed robbery. Accordingly, while we affirm the felony murder, burglary, and firearm possession convictions, we vacate the armed robbery conviction.

Billings v. State

The trial court erred in failing to merge the defendant's conviction for armed robbery into his felony murder conviction and in sentencing him to a separate life sentence for that crime.

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