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Griffin v. State

Defendant was not entitled to a separate murder trial because both he and his co-defendant shot the victim during a robbery.

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A jury convicted Manuel Griffin and co-defendant Alex Scruggs of felony murder in the shooting death of Jamar Lewis at a laundry in DeKalb County.1 Griffin challenges the trial court’s refusal to sever his trial from the trial of his co-defendant. Because the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the severance motion, we affirm.

1. The evidence presented at trial shows that Griffin, Scruggs, and Maria Joyner planned to rob Jamar Lewis. Lewis called Joyner on his cell phone as he was driving to her apartment for a date, and she paged Scruggs. When Lewis arrived, Joyner asked him to take her to the laundry room. As she was removing her clothes from the washing machine, she heard a voice she identified as Griffin’s say, “Give it up,” and saw Griffin and Scruggs pointing guns at Lewis. One defendant shot him in the back from two to three feet away, and the other shot him in the abdomen from a few inches away. Police found shell casings from a nine millimeter pistol and a .380 pistol next to the body, and the pathologist removed a nine millimeter and a .380 caliber bullet from the body. The pathologist testified that each shot was fatal and Lewis died from the combined injuries caused by both gunshot wounds. After reviewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury’s determination of guilt, we conclude that a rational trier of fact could have found Griffin guilty of the crime charged.2

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