Murderpedia has thousands of hours of work behind it. To keep creating
new content, we kindly appreciate any donation you can give to help
the Murderpedia project stay alive. We have many
plans and enthusiasm
to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really
need your help for this. Thank you very much in advance.
Timothy Tyrone FOSTER
Timothy Tyrone Foster, 29, was sentenced to
death in Floyd County in May 1987. Mr. Foster confessed that on the
night of Aug. 27, 1986, he broke into the home of Queen Madge White, 79.
Her jaw was broken, she had gashes on the top of her head and she had
been sexually assaulted and strangled.
Mr. Foster had a juvenile record including armed
robbery. In July 1991, his case was sent back to the trial court on
the issue of mental retardation.
FOSTER v. THE STATE.
45609.
(258 Ga. 736)
(374 SE2d 188)
(1988)
MARSHALL, Chief Justice.
Murder, etc. Floyd Superior Court. Before Judge Frazier, Senior
Judge.
This is a death-penalty case. Queen Madge
White, a 79-year-old widow, lived by herself in Rome, Georgia.
Early in the evening of August 27, 1986, a friend took White to
choir practice, and brought her home at 8:30 p.m. White talked
to her sister by telephone at 9:00 p.m. and everything was
normal. However, when the sister stopped by early the next
morning, she discovered that White's house had been broken into
and ransacked.
The sister called the police, who found
White's body lying on the floor in her bedroom covered to her
chin by a blanket. Her face was coated with talcum powder. Her
jaw was broken. She had a severe gash on the top of her head.
She had been sexually molested with a salad-dressing bottle, and
strangled to death. A number of her possessions were missing
from her home.
The appellant, Timothy Tyrone Foster, was
arrested for White's murder a month later when he threatened his
live-in companion and she responded by turning him in. The
victim's possessions were recovered from their home and from
Foster's two sisters. Foster was interrogated and confessed. A
jury convicted him of malice murder and burglary, and sentenced
him to death. This is his appeal. 1
1. Foster first contends the trial court
erred by excusing one prospective juror and by failing to excuse
eight prospective jurors.
Prospective juror Black was excused because
of her views against capital punishment. The test for excusal is
"whether the juror's views [on capital punishment] would 'prevent
or substantially impair the performance of his duties as a juror
in accordance with his instructions and his oath.' " Wainwright
v. Witt, 469 U. S. 412, 424 (105 SC 844, 83 LE2d 841) (1985).
See Alderman v. State, 254 Ga. 206 (4)
(327 SE2d 168) (1985).
Black's answers to questions about the death
penalty, like those of many other prospective jurors, were
somewhat contradictory. See Curry v. State,
255 Ga. 215, 220 (336
SE2d 762) (1985). As she pointed out, she had never
before been asked to express her views on capital punishment.
See Spivey v. State, 253 Ga. 187,
197 (fn. 3) (319 SE2d 420) (1984).
She did state, however, that, although she "maybe" could change
her mind, she was opposed to the death penalty, and she stated
repeatedly that she would automatically vote for a life sentence
in a murder case. The trial court's finding that she was
disqualified is not clearly erroneous. Wainwright v. Witt, supra
at 431. 2
Foster contends that prospective juror Tate
should have been excused because he initially stated that he
would vote automatically to impose a death sentence if the
defendant were convicted, and because he had formed an opinion
that the police had "probably got the right man when they
arrested Foster. However, it is clear that Tate was confused at
first by the question about the automatic imposition of the
death penalty. 3 Further
questioning cleared up the confusion and showed no
disqualification in this respect. Compare Pope v. State,
256 Ga. 195 (7 f) (345
SE2d 831) (1986). The previously-formed opinion as to
guilt was not so "fixed and definite" as to necessitate an
excusal for cause. Childs v. State, 257
Ga. 243 (8) (357 SE2d 48) (1987). Tate stated repeatedly
that he could set aside his opinion, and decide the case
strictly on the evidence. Spivey v. State, supra at 196-7.
Foster also contends that prospective juror
Holder should have been excused for his views on the death
penalty. Any death-qualification issue here is moot, since this
prospective juror was excused on other grounds.
Foster complains of the refusal to excuse six
additional prospective jurors on the ground of bias. Some of
these prospective jurors knew the victim, but none was close to
her, and they all testified that they could be fair and
impartial jurors and could decide the case on the evidence
presented. The trial court did not err by overruling Foster's
challenges for favor. Wilson v. State,
250 Ga. 630 (4 b) (300 SE2d 640)
(1983).
2. The voir dire examination concluded on a
Friday afternoon. The jury was selected Monday morning, giving
the parties the weekend to plan their peremptory challenges: The
qualified panel from which the jury was selected included four
blacks. The district attorney exercised peremptory challenges
against each of the four black jurors. Foster timely raised an
issue of racial discrimination in the prosecution's exercise of
peremptory challenges. See Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U. S. 79 (106
SC 1712, 90 LE2d 69) (1986). The trial court ruled that a prima
facie case had been established, and required the prosecutor to
explain his exercise of peremptory challenges. See Gamble v.
State, 257 Ga. 325 (2) (357 SE2d 792)
(1987). Foster contends the trial court erred by finding
that the state successfully rebutted the prima facie case. As we
stated in Gamble (quoting from Batson):
The [prosecutor's] explanation [of his
peremptory challenges] "need not rise to the level justifying
exercise of a challenge for cause," but it must be "neutral," "related
to the case to be tried," and a " 'clear and reasonably specific,'
explanation of his 'legitimate reasons' for exercising the
challenges." [Cit.]
Gamble, supra at 327.
The defense in this case centered around
Foster's deprived background and his use of drugs and alcohol.
Many of the defendant's witnesses were social workers. Part of
his defense was that when he was a juvenile he had not been
committed to a Youth Development Center for the commission of
armed robbery, notwithstanding the contemporaneous
recommendation of a psychiatrist that only incarceration and
strict discipline could possibly have any "lasting impact" on
his anti-social behavior. Instead, he was returned by the state
to an unsuitable and harmful family environment which included
heavy drug use by his own parents and a girl friend who "sold [her]
body" for cocaine. Foster contended he was mentally ill and,
further, that he was involuntarily intoxicated by alcohol,
marijuana and cocaine.
The prosecutor was familiar with Foster's
background and knew that Foster intended to assert a defense
involving mental illness and drug usage. He explained his
challenges of the four black prospective jurors as follows,
taking them in the order in which they underwent voir dire:
The first juror has a son the same age as the
defendant who has been convicted of a misdemeanor theft offense.
His wife works at the Northwest Georgia Regional Hospital, a
mental health facility. His brother was once a drug consultant.
During the Witherspoon questioning, the juror appeared to be
reluctant to say that he could vote for a death sentence, and he
is a member of a church whose members, in the experience of the
prosecutor, tend to be very reluctant to impose the death
penalty.
The third juror claimed to be the half-sister
of the district attorney's chief investigator (who is black).
The investigator, however, denied being related in any way to
this juror. Moreover, the juror denied having a friend or
relative accused or convicted of a crime of violence and denied
knowing anyone with a drug or alcohol problem notwithstanding
that her brother is a repeat offender whose crimes involve theft
by taking, burglary and drugs, and that her husband has been
convicted for carrying a concealed weapon.
The fourth juror is a social worker involved
with low-income, underprivileged children. Her first cousin was
arrested by the Metro Drug Task force on serious drug charges
and the cousin lost her job as a consequence.
The prosecutor explained that he did not want
social workers on the jury in a death penalty case, as they
tended to sympathize with criminal defendants, especially at the
penalty phase. Moreover he preferred not to allow on the jury
anyone who was closely related to someone with a drug or alcohol
problem, since the defendant in this case planned to blame the
crime on his own drug and alcohol problem. He further stated
that he could not trust someone who gave materially untruthful
answers on voir dire, as did the third juror. Finally, he was
prepared to challenge peremptorily any juror who was reluctant
to impose the death penalty as a matter of conscience where the
juror's opposition to the death penalty did not rise to the
level justifying a disqualification for cause.
The prosecutor's explanations were related to
the case to be tried, and were clear and reasonably specific.
The trial court did not err by finding them to be sufficiently
neutral and legitimate. The court's determination that the
prosecutor successfully rebutted the prima facie case is
entitled to "great deference," Batson supra, 106 SC at 1724 (fn.21)
and is not clearly erroneous in this case.
3. There was no abuse of discretion in the
court's conduct of the week-long voir dire examination of
prospective jurors. Childs v. State, 257
Ga. 243 (6), supra.
4. The trial court did not err by denying
Foster's post-trial motion to review in camera the state's jury-selection
notes. An attorney's work product is generally non-discoverable.
A defendant's right to exculpatory evidence under Brady v.
Maryland, 373 U. S. 83 (83 SC 1194, 10 LE2d 215) (1963), is not
involved here, and non-exculpatory information in an attorney's
work product does not become discoverable simply because the
opposing attorneys might find it strategically useful.
6. The evidence presented by the defendant in
support of his motion for change of venue does not show such an
inundation of pretrial publicity as would give rise to a
presumption of prejudice. Compare Coleman v. Kemp, 778 F2d 1487
(11th Cir. 1986). The voir dire examination and qualification of
prospective jurors support the trial court's determination that
a change of venue was unnecessary. Lee v. State,
258 Ga. 82 (9) (365 SE2d 99) (1988).
7. On the day the crime was discovered, an
investigator equipped with a video camera filmed the crime scene.
The resulting videotape depicts the exterior of the victim's
home (including the window through which the defendant entered),
the path which he apparently took from the house (dropping
things along the way and leaving footprints), the interior of
the victim's home (and the extent to which it had been ransacked),
and, finally, the victim's body (before and after the removal of
the blanket covering her).
The trial court overruled Foster's objection
that the videotape was inflammatory and duplicative of the still
photographs of the scene and of the body which the state also
introduced in evidence.
The videotape clearly was relevant. There was
no abuse of discretion in the court's ruling. Hicks v. State,
256 Ga. 715 (13) (352 SE2d 762) (1987);
Jones v. State, 250 Ga. 498 (3) (299 SE2d
549) (1983).
8. Foster was interrogated by the police on
the afternoon of the day he was arrested. Mike Reynolds, the
lead investigator, testified it was "the first time I had ever
talked with [Foster] . . . [and] I really didn't expect a
confession, [so] I didn't turn any of the video equipment on."
However, after being advised of his rights, Foster confessed.
Reynolds "didn't want to stop him . . . to go turn everything on,"
so he let him confess, and this first confession was not
recorded.
He left by the back door, and hid what he had
taken in a nearby empty house until he could return for it the
next day.
After giving the above statement, Reynolds
tried to persuade Foster to confess a second time with the video
recording equipment turned on. Reynolds testified Foster "was a
little hesitant about confessing a second time." He and
detective Craft spent "eight or nine minutes . . . trying to
talk him into confessing to us a second time." Foster expressed
concern that he might not say exactly the same thing the second
time. The officers assured him that they were not trying to "trap"
or "trick" him, and that "it would be better just to put it on
tape . . . and it will be correct." The interview continued:
Craft: Just tell us again on tape one more
time. It ain't going to hurt nothing.
Foster: Why can't we just leave it at that?
Reynolds: If. . . you want to leave it at
this and not put it on tape, that is fine with me. . . . Let's
just leave it. What this means is that Wayne and I are going to
have to sit up all night long and write about you.
Craft: Yeah. But if we put it on tape can't
nobody change what the tape says, you know. Okay? This is --
this is as much for your benefit as it is ours . . .so let's
just go through it right quick one more time and get it over
with . . . Okay?
Reynolds: Tim, I haven't lied to you through
the whole night, and I haven't tried to trick you through the
whole night, and I am not trying now. . . . [Y]ou [sat] in here
and told two police officers everything about it. . . . I am not
trying to push you or bluff you or anything. It will just make
it a lot easier on all of us.
. . .
Craft: Tim, let's go ahead and get this thing
over with tonight. You told us about it already one time. Okay?
Hey, let's run back through it right quick and get it over with
and be done with it. Okay? . . . Do you want to do that? It
ain't going to hurt, not a thing.
. . .
Craft: [Y]ou told us about it one time
already. It ain't going to hurt, you know. I mean I think you
will agree that it ain't going to hurt, you know, for us to run
back through it again right quick. . . .
Thus encouraged, Foster was interviewed a
second time on videotape. His second confession was identical in
all material respects with the first.
(a) Foster contends first that his
confessions were induced by a "hope of benefit," OCGA
24-3-50, because he was informed
that he would not be charged with rape. There is no merit to
this contention. Foster was simply told that no rape would be
charged, based on his statement that no rape occurred. No
benefit was offered to induce a confession.
(b) Foster contends further that it was error
to admit the second statement in evidence because it was
elicited only after he was told repeatedly that it was not going
to hurt "a thing," and that it would be "as much for your
benefit as ours." We agree. An accused must be warned that
anything he says can and will be used against him in court.
Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U. S. 436 (86 SC 1602, 16 LE2d 694)
(1966). Telling him that a confession is not going to hurt and,
on the contrary, will benefit him as much as the police, is not
consistent with the warnings required by Miranda.
Nevertheless, there is no reversible error.
The videotaped confession was merely cumulative to the first,
non-recorded confession, and that confession and the remaining
evidence overwhelmingly establish Foster's guilt. Any error here
is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Vaughn v. State,
248 Ga. 127 (2) (281 SE2d 594) (1981).
9. A defense psychiatrist testified that
Foster was so intoxicated from the ingestion of alcohol,
marijuana and cocaine that he did not know the difference
between right and wrong at the time of the crime. He also
testified that Foster has an anti-social personality disorder,
but that when he is sober he is neither insane nor mentally ill
under Georgia law.
On cross-examination, the prosecutor asked
the psychiatrist if it was true that most people in prison have
an anti-social personality disorder. The psychiatrist agreed
that it was true. Then the state asked:
So any one of those people that took cocaine
and marijuana and beer in the quantities by his story that you
say that this defendant took it, would be entitled to walk out
of the courtroom as found acquitted on the basis of insanity. Is
that what you're saying?
Foster objected and moved for a mistrial. The
trial court denied the mistrial, but sustained the objection and
instructed the jury to disregard the question. The court did not
err by refusing to declare a mistrial.
10. The court charged on voluntary and
involuntary intoxication as follows:
Our law provides that voluntary intoxication
shall not be an excuse for any criminal act. It provides further
that if a person's mind when unexcited by intoxicants is capable
of distinguishing between right and wrong and reason and acting
rationally, and he voluntarily deprives himself of reason by
consuming intoxicants and while under the influence of such
intoxicants, he commits a criminal act, he is criminally
responsible for such act to the same extent as if he were sober.
Whether or not the defendant was voluntarily intoxicated at or
during the time alleged in this indictment is a matter solely
for you, the jury, to determine.
A person shall not be found guilty of a crime
when, at the time of the conduct constituting the crime, the
person, because of involuntary intoxication, did not have
sufficient mental capacity to distinguish between right and
wrong in relation to the criminal act.
Involuntary intoxication means intoxication
caused by (a) consumption of a substance through excusable
ignorance, or (b) the coercion, fraud, artifice or contrivance
of another person.
These instructions set forth the principles
contained in OCGA 16-3-4.
Foster contends the court erred by refusing
his request to charge in addition:
If, because of the influence of alcohol,
drugs, or narcotics, one's mind becomes so impaired as to render
him incapable of forming an intent to do the act charged, or to
understand that a certain consequence would likely result from
it, he would not be criminally responsible for the act.
The law of intoxication contained in OCGA
16-3-4 must be read in light of
OCGA 16-3-2, which provides:
A person shall not be found guilty of a crime
if, at the time of the act, omission, or negligence constituting
the crime, the person did not have mental capacity to
distinguish between right and wrong in relation to such act,
omission or negligence.
OCGA 16-3-4
limits the reach of OCGA 16-3-2 so
that the inability to distinguish between right and wrong is not
a defense if the inability is a consequence of voluntary
intoxication (but remains a defense if the inability is a
consequence of in voluntary intoxication).
Neither code section speaks of an inability
to form an intent to commit the act. Persons are not excused
from criminal liability under either of these code sections
because they are incapable of forming criminal intent. As we
observed in Pope v. State, 256 Ga., supra at 208, a person can
be capable of forming an intent to kill but incapable of
understanding the difference between right and wrong.
4 Lack of intent is a defense,
but it is not implicated by either OCGA
16-3-2 or OCGA 16-3-4. In
Jones v. State, 29 Ga. 594 (2)
(1860), this court explained:
[T]he minimum of mind which can furnish the
necessary mental element in crime, is a far smaller quantity
than was claimed by the argument for the accused. . . .
Whoever . . . has mind enough to form the
simple intention to kill a human being, has mind enough to have
malice, and to furnish the mental constituents of murder. . . .
And this brings [us] to a consideration of
the great perversions which have been made of the doctrine that
drunkenness is no excuse for crime. The foundation stone of
these perversions, not distinctly shaped in the argument, but
unconsciously assumed in it, is a feeling or notion that the
exemption of insane persons and young children from criminal
responsibility, is not the result of positive law excusing them,
but is the simple consequence of their mental deficiency, which
is supposed to be so complete as not to be capable of furnishing
the mental element of crime; while the drunken man, with the
same actual mental deficiency, is held responsible for his
actions, not because they are crimes having the mental and
physical element of crime, but by virtue of a certain
destructive capacity infused into him, from reasons of policy,
by the law which declares that drunkenness shall be no excuse
for crime. The reverse of all this is the true philosophy of the
law. The law deals with all of these classes of people, as
having a sufficient quantum of mind to have bad passions, and
evil intentions, and carelessness in their actions, and so to
furnish the mental element of crime, but as laboring also under
an infirmity of reason, which serves to betray them into these
evil intentions and carelessness, and at the same time breaks
down this power of resisting temptation. The law comes in then,
and excuses the young and the insane, out of tenderness towards
an infirmity which is involuntary, and at the same time, to
guard against the possibility that men might make the same
excuse whenever there is the same infirmity of reason, the law
takes special care to exclude drunken men from the excuse,
because their infirmity is voluntary.
The result is, that the young and the
involuntary insane occupy a platform of their own, by virtue of
an exception made in their favor, while the voluntary insanity
of drunkenness being excluded from the exception, stands just as
if no exception had been made, and the drunk man and sober man
occupy the same great platform of responsibility for the crimes
which they commit. . . .
Id. at 607-10.
Foster's requested charge is misleading,
because it implies that the intoxication defense involves a lack
of intent to commit the crime, when intent is, in fact, a
separate issue.
The trial court charged on intent, including
the state's burden to prove intent beyond a reasonable doubt.
The court did not err by refusing to give in addition the
defendant's requested charge on inability to form intent as a
result of intoxication. Gilreath v. State,
247 Ga. 814 (13) (279 SE2d 650) (1981).
11. "The statutory provision that . . .
mental illness be proved beyond a reasonable doubt is not
constitutionally infirm. [Cit.]" Spivey v. State,
253 Ga. 187, 189 (319
SE2d 420) (1984).
A type-written verdict form was submitted to
the jury as follows:
The following aggravated circumstances as to
Murder has [sic] been submitted by the State of Georgia and must
have been proved to the satisfaction of the jury beyond a
reasonable doubt before a verdict recommending the death penalty
is authorized, to wit.
1. The offense of murder was committed while
the offender was engaged in the commission of Burglary.
2. The offense of murder was outrageously or
wantonly vile, horrible, or inhuman in that it involved torture,
depravity of mind or an aggravated battery to the victim.
The jury will answer the following questions:
1. Did you find beyond a reasonable doubt the
aggravated circumstances to exist as to the murder?
2. If so, write the aggravated circumstances
below as to murder.
3. As to murder: (A) We the jury recommend
the death penalty. YES ( ) NO ( )
B. We the jury recommend Life Imprisonment.
YES ( ) NO ( )
The jury filled in the form by writing "yes"
after the first question, and by writing after the second
question:
Depravity of mind -- powdered body, salad
bottle in vagina, strangulation
Aggravated battery -- hit with stick (log)
disfigured face, strangulation
Finally, the jury checked "yes" to 3 (A) and
drew a line through 3 (B).
The jury convicted Foster of burglary and
answered "yes" to the question whether it had found beyond a
reasonable doubt the proffered "aggravated circumstances"
(plural), one of which was burglary. However, the jury failed to
list burglary in the space provided under the second "question."
Although it is likely that the jury meant to find that the
commission of the offense of burglary was a statutory
aggravating circumstance of the murder, we cannot be sure that
the jury intended to do so, and we shall not consider burglary
as a statutory circumstance supporting the imposition of a death
sentence. OCGA 17-10-30 (c).
That leaves the b (7) circumstance. Since no
one at trial objected to the form of the verdict, the question
here is not whether the form of the verdict might be
objectionable, but whether "the jury's intent [was] shown with
sufficient clarity that this court can rationally review the
jury's finding." Romine v. State, 251 Ga.
208, 213 (305 SE2d 93)
(1983). We are satisfied that the jury intended to find the b
(7) circumstance in its entirety and to follow the trial court's
instructions by specifying in particular that it had found each
of the three principal elements of b (7). See Hance v. State,
245 Ga. 856 (3) (268 SE2d 339) (1980).
The evidence showed that Foster hit the
victim with a fireplace log hard enough to break her jaw,
sexually molested her, poured talcum powder all over her face,
and then strangled her to death. The jury's b (7) finding is
supported by the evidence. OCGA 17-10-35
(c) (2). Compare Phillips v. State, 250
Ga. 336 (6) (297 SE2d 217) (1982).
13. The death sentence was not imposed under
the influence of passion, prejudice or other arbitrary factor,
and is neither excessive nor disproportionate to the penalty
imposed in similar cases, considering both the crime and the
defendant. OCGA 17-10-35 (c) (1)
and (c) (3). The similar cases listed in the Appendix support
the imposition of a death sentence in this case.
APPENDIX.
Stephen F. Lanier, District Attorney, Michael
J. Bowers, Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Assistant Attorney
General, for appellee.
Notes
1 The crime
occurred August 27, 1986. Foster was arrested September 26 and
indicted on October 17, 1986. The case was tried April 20
through May 1, 1987. A motion for new trial was filed May 28,
1987 and heard November 24, 1987. The trial court denied the
motion on February 3, 1988. A notice of appeal was filed March
3, 1988, and the case was docketed in this court on March 21,
1988. Oral arguments were heard June 6, 1988.
2 We note
that Black gave inconsistent answers to several attempts to ask
a question in the exact language of the Witt test for excusal.
Although the standard enunciated in Witt is the test for excusal,
it is not necessarily the best or most comprehensible voir dire
question. As is noted in Witt: "Relevant voir dire questions
addressed to this issue [of death-qualification] need not be
framed exclusively in the language of the controlling appellate
opinion; the opinion is, after all, an opinion and not an
intricate devise in a will." Id. at 433-34.
3 Tate was
not alone. Many of the prospective jurors stated at first that
they would vote automatically for both a death sentence and a
life sentence.
4 Foster's
own psychiatrist testified that although Foster was incapable of
distinguishing between right and wrong at the time of the crime,
he was capable of forming the intent to do the acts he committed.
James C. Wyatt, Robert K. Finnell, for appellant.
DECIDED NOVEMBER 22, 1988 -- RECONSIDERATION
DENIED DECEMBER 14, 1988.
FOSTER v. THE STATE.
S99A1800.
(272 Ga. 69)
(525 SE2d 78)
(2000)
HUNSTEIN, Justice.
Murder. Floyd Superior Court. Before Judge Matthews.
Timothy Tyrone Foster was convicted and
sentenced to death by a jury in Floyd County in 1987. His
conviction and sentence were upheld on appeal. Foster v. State,
258 Ga. 736 (374 SE2d 188) (1988).
Subsequently, this Court addressed Foster's claim seeking a writ
of habeas corpus on the basis that he was mentally retarded.
Zant v. Foster, 261 Ga. 450 (406 SE2d 74)
(1991). Pursuant to our remand of the case, the trial
court conducted a trial on the mental retardation issue. A jury
determined that Foster was not mentally retarded and he filed
this appeal. Finding no reversible error in the enumerations he
asserts, we affirm.
1. Based on our prior ruling in his case,
Foster had the burden of proving his mental retardation by a
preponderance of the evidence. Id. at (5). See also Stephens v.
State, 270 Ga. 354 (2) (509 SE2d 605)
(1998). Evidence was adduced from which the jury could
have found that IQ tests administered to Foster when he was ten
and nearly seventeen years old showed that he was not mentally
retarded; that Foster's subsequently lower IQ scores resulted
from depression or malingering; that Foster's school grades and
class assignments did not reflect any sign of mental retardation;
and that Foster's interaction with others, his letter writing,
newspaper reading, and sports activities all indicated that
Foster did not meet the statutory definition of mental
retardation. OCGA 17-7-131 (a)
(3). Construing the evidence in favor of the verdict, a rational
trier of fact could have found that Foster failed to prove by a
preponderance of the evidence that he was mentally retarded.
Accordingly, the trial court did not err by denying Foster's
motion for a new trial on the basis that the verdict was
contrary to the evidence.
2. We find no error in the trial court's
denial of Foster's motion for a change of venue in the mental
retardation trial. Even applying the standard for change of
venue in death penalty cases, see, e.g., Cromartie v. State,
270 Ga. 780 (2) (514 SE2d 205) (1999),
a review of the record establishes that Foster made no
substantive showing of an inherently prejudicial trial setting
or actual bias on the part of individual jurors. Id.
3. Foster contends the trial court erred by
introducing into the proceeding the fact that a crime had been
committed when the trial court instructed the jury, inter alia,
that Foster had been charged with a crime and that the jurors
had not been selected to decide his guilt or innocence. In State
v. Patillo, 262 Ga. 259 (417 SE2d 139)
(1992), we upheld the trial court's ruling that the
consequences of the jury's finding on the mental retardation
issue should not be disclosed to the jury. Our holding
paralleled the exclusion of sentencing issues in trials
conducted pursuant to OCGA 17-7-131
(j), under which claims of mental retardation are decided "at
the guilt phase of the [criminal] trial." Patillo, supra. The
challenged instructions here, which alerted the jury to the fact
that the mental retardation issue in Foster's case arose out of
a criminal proceeding, did not in any manner impede the jury
from "focus[ing] strictly on the mental condition of the
defendant and decid[ing] that issue without being concerned
about the consequences of its finding." Patillo, supra at 260.
Accordingly, we find no error in the challenged instructions.
4. The record reveals that each panel of
prospective jurors was required to complete a questionnaire and
that the completed forms were then copied and provided to
counsel prior to voir dire. Our review of the record fails to
disclose any abuse of the trial court's discretion in regard to
the amount of time counsel was provided to review the
questionnaires. See generally Speed v. State,
270 Ga. 688 (7) (512 SE2d 896) (1999)
(control of voir dire lies within discretion of trial court).
5. The trial court overruled Foster's
objection under Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U. S. 79 (106 SC 1712,
90 LE2d 69) (1986) after concluding that the State set forth
racially neutral reasons for striking three prospective African-American
jurors. 1 Foster contends that
the striking of prospective juror Shropshire on the basis of his
extensive medical knowledge was improper because the State
failed to strike a similarly-situated white juror who was a
medical nurse. However, the prosecutor also noted that juror
Shropshire's wife was a psychologist who worked in the field of
mental retardation, the juror had worked with her in the past
regarding her patients, and additionally that the juror had a
relative who was mentally retarded. The transcript thus reflects
that Foster, as the opponent of the strike, failed to carry his
burden of persuasion by showing that the strike was pretextual.
Compare Jones v. State, 270 Ga. 25 (2)
(505 SE2d 749) (1998).
6. Dr. Anthony Stringer, a psychologist
called by Foster, testified on direct examination regarding his
diagnosis of Foster's father as mentally retarded and the
studies which indicated the greater likelihood of mental
retardation in the offspring of retarded parents. On cross-examination,
objection was made when the prosecutor questioned Dr. Stringer
about anti-social personality disorder
2 on the basis that it was not relevant to the witness'
direct testimony. Although the prosecutor stated that she
intended to establish the relevancy by testimony that
anti-social personality disorder, like mental retardation, can
be inherited from a parent, that connection was not made. Foster
now contends reversible error resulted. However, Dr. Stringer's
testimony regarding anti-social personality disorder was
cumulative of relevant testimony by other expert witnesses who
discussed the disorder in regard to Foster himself and thus the
error, if any, was harmless. See Williams v. State,
256 Ga. 655 (2) (352 SE2d 756) (1987);
see also Johnson v. State, 238 Ga. 59,
61 (230 SE2d 869) (1976).
7. Foster called Dr. Robert Shaffer to
testify regarding the results of intelligence testing he
performed on Foster. Foster contends reversible error occurred
when Dr. Shaffer on cross-examination was twice asked to give
his opinion based upon the opinion of another health
professional. In the first instance, the prosecution questioned
Dr. Shaffer about the observation by Dr. Perri, who had
administered an earlier IQ test to Foster, that Foster seemed
depressed at the time he took the test. The second instance
involved the diagnosis of Foster as having anti-social
personality disorder. Contrary to Foster's contention, the
transcript reveals that the prosecution did not ask Dr. Shaffer
to offer an opinion about another's opinion, but only inquired
about depression and the diagnosis of anti-social personality
disorder to obtain Dr. Shaffer's analysis of the impact these
matters might have on the results of Foster's IQ tests. The
trial court allowed this questioning as relevant to the jury's
determination of Foster's mental retardation and we find no
abuse of the court's discretion. See generally Baker v. State,
246 Ga. 317 (3) (271 SE2d 360) (1980).
8. The transcript does not support Foster's
claim that the trial court either improperly restricted the
answer of a witness or expressed an opinion in violation of OCGA
9-10-7.
9. Because we found no error in the jury
being informed that their consideration of the mental
retardation issue arose in the context of criminal proceedings
brought against Foster, see Division 3, supra, the trial court
did not err by admitting testimony by State's witness, Dr. Perri,
that Foster's depression during the admission of an IQ test may
have stemmed in part from his incarceration at that time.
Likewise, no error resulted merely because Foster's
incarceration was indicated by the fact that correctional
officers, called to testify regarding Foster's behavior while
incarcerated, wore their uniforms in court.
Notes
1 Foster
does not challenge the striking of prospective jurors Crowder
and Ragland and we agree with the trial court that the
prosecutor presented racially neutral reasons for striking these
jurors, i.e., Crowder claimed she would have a heart attack if
forced to serve; and Ragland slept through voir dire and had a
grandson charged in a drug case.
2 Dr.
Stringer concurred in the layperson's definition of an anti-social
personality as "a person who engages in habitual criminal
conduct."
Tambra P. Colston, District Attorney,
Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, Susan V. Boleyn, Senior
Assistant Attorney General, Paige R. Whitaker, Assistant
Attorney General, for appellee.
Stewart, Melvin & Frost, J. Douglas
Stewart, for appellant.
DECIDED JANUARY 18, 2000 -- RECONSIDERATION
DENIED FEBRUARY 11, 2000.