Brown v. State

Johnny Mack Brown was tried for aggravated assault with intent to murder, hijacking a motor vehicle, two counts of armed robbery and two counts of aggravated assault. He was convicted of armed robbery, two counts of aggravated assault, aggravated battery, hijacking a motor vehicle and the lesser offense of theft by taking; he was acquitted of one count of aggravated assault. He appeals, raising four enumerations of error. For the following reasons, we vacate one conviction of aggravated assault; we affirm the remainder of the judgment.

Evidence at trial showed that around 11:00 a.m. on December 22, 1997, Brown shot Ricky Eberhardt, who was a courier guard, in the parking lot of a large shipping center. Brown came up behind Eberhardt as he was loading a money deposit into the armored truck. Without saying a word, Brown shot Eberhardt three times with a .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun. Two shots hit Eberhardt in the back of his body, while the third struck him in the front. Eberhardt fell to the ground next to the armored vehicle and Brown grabbed the moneybag, which contained more than $146,000, and ran across the busy parking lot. James Pearce, Eberhardt’s co-worker, who was inside the armed vehicle, came out of it when he heard the shots. He followed Brown across the parking lot. Officer Bobby Tribble, an off-duty instructor at the Northeast Georgia Police Academy, was inside the Wal-mart and also heard the gunshots. He went outside and saw Brown holding a large canvas bag in one hand and a weapon in the other.