Bridges v. State

The trial court's error in admitting irrelevant evidence that the defendant bribed a corrections officer to bring him certain amenities while he was in jail awaiting trial was harmless, in light of the overwhelming evidence supporting his dual murder convictions.

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Appellant Roy Bridges appeals his dual convictions for murder, resulting in life sentences, alleging that numerous errors by the trial court mandate a reversal.1 Having examined the record, we conclude the trial court erred by admitting certain irrelevant evidence, but due to the overwhelming evidence of appellant’s guilt, the error was harmless. We also find that appellant’s allegations of ineffective assistance from trial counsel, though raised for the first time on appeal, are timely and must be remanded to the trial court. Having found no merit to appellant’s remaining enumerations, we affirm and remand. On December 27, 1997, the severely beaten body of appellant’s wife, JoAnn Bridges, was found in the Whigham, Georgia, home of her mother, a butcher knife lodged in her chest. Upstairs lay the body of appellant’s invalid mother-in-law, Christine Ulmer, her trachea cut open. Authorities soon determined the murders had occurred sometime after 10 p.m. the previous night. Although evidence initially indicated the murders may have been associated with a violent burglary, that theory was soon abandoned as no property appeared to be missing from the home.

When asked about his whereabouts on the night of the murders, appellant told investigators that he had been hunting near Opileka, Alabama, yet it was determined that he never checked into the hunting club where he claimed to have stayed.2 Appellant told authorities that he was in Alabama from approximately 3:00 p.m. on December 26th until 5:00 a.m on December 27th, and that he had made no phone calls on the night of the 26th. However, cell phone records revealed that shortly after 10:00 p.m. on that night, appellant placed a cell phone call that originated within ten to twelve miles of Arlington, Georgia, which is located approximately forty miles northwest of the crime scene.

Bridges v. State

The trial court's error in admitting irrelevant evidence that the defendant bribed a corrections officer to bring him certain amenities while he was in jail awaiting trial was harmless, in light of the overwhelming evidence supporting his dual murder convictions.

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