Fuller v. State

The appellant, Veronica Fuller, appeals from her conviction for the malice murder of Wilbert White.1 On appeal, Fuller contends, among other things, that she received ineffective assistance of trial counsel; that the trial court erred by charging on involuntary manslaughter; and that the trial court erred by allowing the State to introduce improper character evidence against Fuller. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that Fuller’s contentions are without merit, and, accordingly, we affirm her conviction. 1. The evidence showed that on July 9, 2002, Fuller and a friend, Ginelle Smith, went to a park in downtown Atlanta to find the victim, Wilbert White. According to two eyewitnesses, when Fuller and Smith arrived at the park, Fuller got out of the car, brandished a knife, and walked towards White. Fuller began to ask White for money, referring to the thirty dollars she had given White earlier that day to buy her groceries, but White stood motionless and did not answer. Again, Fuller demanded that White give her the money, saying that she would “fk him up,” but White told Fuller that he did not have it. The eyewitnesses testified that White seemed calm and made no aggressive motions, but that Fuller lunged towards White and stabbed him in the stomach. Afterward, Smith got out of the car and told Fuller that they should leave, but before leaving, Fuller told White that he better have her money next time or that she would kill him. After Fuller left, White stumbled to a nearby sidewalk and died. Fuller fled to New York where she was arrested. In a pre-trial statement to New York authorities, Fuller stated that the stabbing was an accident. At trial, Fuller testified that when she asked White for the money, he called her a “bitch” and told her “to get out of here.” Fuller added that, at that point, she pulled out her knife, and he grabbed her arm and began to push her to the ground. Fuller testified that she stabbed him because she “feared he was going to harm her.”

Having reviewed the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, we conclude that a rational trier of fact could have found Fuller guilty of felony murder beyond a reasonable doubt.2