Hill v. State

After a jury trial, Lavar Anthony Hill was found guilty of the felony murder of Jarvis Lewis during the commission of aggravated assault, a separate count charging that underlying felony, possession of marijuana, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. The trial court merged the aggravated assault count into the felony murder verdict, entered judgments of conviction on the remaining guilty verdicts, and sentenced Hill to life imprisonment for felony murder, a concurrent ten-year term for the drug offense, and a consecutive five-year term for the weapons offense. A motion for new trial was denied, and he appeals. 1. Construed most strongly in support of the verdicts, the evidence shows that Hill and two others smoked some marijuana and then went with the victim to watch a movie in an apartment. Subsequently, the victim and his girlfriend Vonica Brown went into a bathroom and loudly argued. Sarah Chavez-Hopkins went to the bathroom door and told them to calm down. Hill then burst through the door, attacked the victim, pulled a gun from his pocket, and shot the victim four times. When police arrived, the victim was lying outside the apartment and told a detective that Hill did it. The victim subsequently died of the gunshot wounds. The gun used to shoot the victim was found behind a bush near two small bags of marijuana. A knife was found near the victim, medical testimony showed that Hill received a stab wound and a laceration, and Hill claimed self-defense, testifying that the victim attacked him with a knife while Ms. Chavez-Hopkins told the victim to stop stabbing him. However, in admitting the shooting to a friend, Hill explained that he had “snapped,” and both Ms. Brown and Ms. Chavez-Hopkins testified that they saw Hill pull the gun but never saw the victim with a knife. The evidence was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find Hill guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes for which he was convicted. Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U. S. 307 99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560 1979; McNeil v. State , 284 Ga. 586, 588 1 669 SE2d 111 2008.

2. Hill contends that the trial court erred in failing to administer the oath to the trial jury required by OCGA § 15-12-139, as the record is devoid of evidence that such oath was administered, and the State failed to supplement the record properly.