In 1994, a jury convicted Timothy Don Carr of malice murder, motor vehicle theft, and other offenses and sentenced him to death for the murder. This Court affirmed the convictions and death sentence, Carr v. State, 267 Ga. 547 480 SE2d 583 1997, and the United States Supreme Court denied Carr’s petition for certiorari. Carr v. Georgia, 522 U. S. 921 118 SC 313, 139 LE2d 242 1997. In 1998, Carr filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus challenging his convictions and death sentence and an evidentiary hearing was held in 1999. The habeas court ruled in its final order that all of Carr’s claims other than ineffective assistance of counsel were without merit. The habeas court then vacated Carr’s death sentence after finding that Carr’s trial counsel had been ineffective in the preparation and presentation of Carr’s case. The warden appeals, Case No. S00A1798, and Carr cross-appeals, Case No. S00X1800. We reverse and reinstate Carr’s death sentence.
The evidence adduced at trial showed that Carr was at a party in Macon in October 1992 with his girlfriend, Melissa Burgeson, and the 17-year-old victim, Keith Young. People at the party consumed alcohol and the juice from boiled hallucinogenic mushrooms; some also smoked marijuana. Burgeson obtained Young’s car keys claiming that he was too intoxicated to drive. She and Carr discussed robbing the victim of his car; they also knew that Young had just cashed his paycheck. In the early morning hours, Burgeson, Carr, Young, and two juveniles one male, one female left the party in Young’s car. Burgeson was driving, Young was in the front passenger seat, and the others were in the back seat. During the drive, Carr displayed a knife to one of the juveniles and whispered to her that he was going to kill Young. There was also a baseball bat in the back seat of the car. Burgeson stopped the car on a dirt road under the pretense that they were going to look for mushrooms and everyone exited except for the female juvenile. When Young was looking in the trunk, Burgeson whispered to Carr to “do it now.” Carr grabbed Young from behind and cut his throat twice. Burgeson said, “that ain’t enough” and Carr stabbed the victim several times in the chest. Young pleaded for his life, but Carr laughed and said “I’m going to kill you, boy.” After Young had fallen to the ground, Carr rolled him over on his stomach and stabbed him several times in the lower back. The male juvenile then handed Carr the baseball bat and he beat the victim in the head, fracturing his skull. Burgeson took cash from the victim’s pockets and they returned to Macon, where they dropped off the male juvenile and drove to Tennessee. In Tennessee, the police chased the victim’s car and arrested Carr, Burgeson, and the female juvenile after they crashed. Carr, 267 Ga. at 548 1.
