A jury found Victor Eugene Callahan guilty of kidnapping, armed robbery, and hijacking a motor vehicle. Following the denial of his motion for new trial, Callahan filed this pro se appeal.1 Callahan challenges the sufficiency of the evidence and also asserts that he was denied effective assistance of counsel. Callahan further contends that the trial court gave an incorrect charge to the jury and that constitutional guarantees against double jeopardy and illegal search and seizure were abrogated. Finally, he claims the prosecutor engaged in misconduct during his closing argument by referring to facts not in evidence. Finding no merit to any of these issues, we affirm.
On appeal, the evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, and an appellant no longer enjoys the presumption of innocence.2 So construed, the evidence establishes that on the afternoon of April 24, 1998, Callahan entered an elevator with two young women Jessica Booth and R. H. at a downtown Athens parking deck. Booth exited at the second floor, leaving Callahan alone with the victim. After exiting at the third floor, R. H. went to her car, followed by Callahan. As she started to enter her vehicle, Callahan suddenly grabbed her from behind and shoved her into the car. When she began to scream, Callahan extracted a handgun from his right pocket and warned her to be quiet because he did not want to have to hurt her. He instructed her to drive him to “Athens Regency,” by which he meant Athens Regional Hospital. While enroute Callahan, sitting directly behind R. H. and still armed with the pistol, told her that he needed money and would have to rob someone to get it. After Callahan demanded money, she gave him $11, all the cash she had. The victim testified that she would not have given him the money if he had not demanded it from her. As to the whereabouts of the gun while she was driving, she explained, “he made me believe that it was in my back. But I could not see because he was directly behind me.” She testified that she was scared of being hurt because “with that gun I wasn’t in control. He had the gun.” After warning her not to contact police and threatening to hurt her if she did so, Callahan exited her vehicle at the hospital. The victim immediately fled to seek help.
