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Collins v. State

Defendant's letters to his accomplice while they were in jail on murder charges were admissible to show that they were attempting to conceal the crime.

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On June 3, 1996, Maganbhai Patel died after being shot in his Dekalb County dry cleaning store.1 An employee of a nearby pet store testified he heard gunshots from the neighboring dry cleaners shortly after appellant Dante Collins and another man had left the pet store, where they had made an inquiry about snakes. He identified Collins as one of the two men he saw run past the pet store from the direction of the dry cleaners. Another witness also heard the shots and identified Collins as one of the two men he saw running from the dry cleaners.

Antone Leonard, who had been incarcerated with appellant in connection with a jewelry store theft three weeks after Mr. Patel was murdered, testified that Collins described his role in the shooting of Patel. Leonard said that Collins told him that he asked Patel for dry cleaning and, while Patel was in the back of the store, Collins’ accomplice tried to enter the cash register. Patel returned to the front of the store and told the accomplice to get away from the cash register. Collins fired a warning shot and then shot the victim as he made a motion toward the front door. Collins’ Dekalb County cellmate also testified that Collins described to him in detail his role in the killing of Patel and his efforts to obtain false alibis from witnesses and to discredit other witnesses who knew damaging information about him.

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