The appellant, Vincent Dyer, appeals from his conviction for the malice murder of Mohamed Al Dowsari.1 On appeal, Dyer contends, among other things, that the trial court erred in its charge on self-defense, erred by ruling that a police detective did not improperly question Dyer after he invoked his right to counsel, and erred by ruling that two pre-trial statements were voluntary. Because we conclude that these contentions, as well as Dyer’s other contentions, are without merit, we affirm. 1. The evidence shows that Dyer was a drug supplier for Dowsari. On the evening of August 17, 2002, Dowsari was found dead at his apartment. He had been shot several times and died from a gunshot to the back of the head. Around noon that same day, Dyer went to an emergency room, which was located near Dowsari’s apartment, for treatment for a gunshot wound to his wrist. The bullet had entered the top of Dyer’s wrist and had exited on the bottom. Dyer told a nurse that he had been robbed at gun-point by two men after he withdrew money from an ATM, and that a Hispanic man had shot him. The police arrived a few minutes later, and according to the nurse, Dyer started to get “more and more nervous.” Dyer told one police officer the same story about the ATM, but stated that the gunman was African-American and that a second person in the car was of Middle-Eastern descent. Dyer told a second officer that he was shot while being robbed at an ATM, but that both robbers were African-American. Moreover, Dyer told a nurse and the police officers that he had held up his hands, palms out, when he was shot. This description, however, was inconsistent with the entry wound in the top of Dyer’s wrist. After speaking with Dyer at the hospital, officers immediately went to the ATM where Dyer said the robbery occurred. The officers testified that the ATM is on a busy street with neighboring businesses, but that no one there heard a shot, and that no shell casing or blood were found at the site.
About ten days after Dowsari was shot, Detective Larry Szeniawski of the Cobb County Police Department learned that the blood of someone other than Dowsari had been found at Dowsari’s apartment. Szeniawski obtained a search warrant for Dyer’s blood, and arranged to interview Dyer about the shooting at Dowsari’s apartment. When interviewed by Szeniawski, Dyer first invoked his right to counsel, but according to the detective, Dyer then changed his mind, and initiated a conversation about Dowsari’s killing. Dyer stated that he went to Dowsari’s apartment to sell him drugs, but that a third party came into the apartment and shot Dyer and Dowsari. Later that same day, Dyer gave a second statement to Szeniawski, telling him that he went to Dowsari’s apartment to sell him cocaine; that Dowsari was dissatisfied with the cocaine; that Dowsari took out a gun; that during a struggle, Dyer was shot; and that Dyer took the gun from Dowsari and shot him in the head. Although the court denied Dyer’s motion to suppress the statements that he made to Szeniawski, the State did not introduce those statements during the presentation of its case-in-chief. The State did, however, question Dyer about portions of the statements on cross-examination.
