Carter v. State

Willie Carter was tried before a jury and convicted of possessing a sawed-off shotgun, possessing a firearm during the commission of a crime, obstructing an officer, and two counts of aggravated assault on a police officer. He also pled guilty to the offense of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon He appeals, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence as to the two aggravated assault on a police officer convictions and the admission into evidence of photographs showing a shirt sleeve with two eye-holes cut into it. The challenges are without merit, so we affirm Carter’s convictions. 1. On appeal from a criminal conviction, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, and the appellant no longer enjoys the presumption of innocence.1 We do not weigh the evidence or determine witness credibility, but determine only if there is sufficient evidence from which a rational trier of fact could have found the accused guilty of the charged offenses beyond a reasonable doubt.2

Viewed in favor of the verdict, the evidence shows that on May 15, 1999, two police officers in the town of Griffin were on patrol in a marked police car when they saw Carter driving a car 38 miles per hour in a 25 miles per hour zone. The officers also saw that Carter and a female passenger were not wearing seat belts. They attempted to stop Carter, activating the lights and the siren on their patrol vehicle, but Carter did not stop. Instead, he accelerated, ran through a red traffic light and eventually turned into an apartment complex.