Melodie Rashun Jones was indicted jointly with her boyfriend, Marcus Rashad Rosser, by a Clayton County grand jury on one count of kidnapping, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of aggravated battery, and one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. A jury acquitted her of kidnapping, but found her guilty of the remaining crimes. Her motion for new trial was denied, and the trial court granted her motion for an out-of-time appeal. Jones contends that the trial court erred in permitting evidence to be presented of other crimes without prior notice and a hearing, as required by USCR 31.1 and 31.3, and in failing to merge the aggravated assault counts with the count of aggravated battery. We find no merit in the former contention, but we do find merit in the latter contention. We therefore affirm the convictions but vacate Jones’s sentence on the aggravated assault charges. Construed to support the jury’s verdict, the record shows that Jones and Rosser were acquainted with the victim, who had played video games at their apartment. On the evening in question, Jones and Rosser went to the victim’s apartment and knocked on the door. When the victim opened the door, he saw that Jones, whom he knew as “Hershey,” had a gun. Jones ordered him to “come with us,” and he walked out into the parking lot with them. When the victim turned around, Jones shot him in the back of the head. The victim incurred severe head injuries, from which he is slowly recovering, and he was able to testify at trial. He testified that he could not remember with certainty why he was shot, but he “thought that they thought that I stole some money from them, I guess.”
While the victim was still in the hospital, he was shown photographic lineups, and he positively identified both Jones and Rosser. Several months later, he was again shown the photo arrays, and he again positively identified Jones and her boyfriend as the couple who came to his apartment.
