GA Supreme Court justices deny Macon gang member's request for new trial
Georgia Supreme Court justices ruled that a Macon gang member will not get a new murder trial, according to court records.
Calvin Stapleton, who was convicted of murder in 2018 and ordered to serve a life sentence in prison , claimed he was entitled to a new trial due to problems during his original trial in Bibb County Superior Court. Georgia Supreme Court justices denied the request Jan. 21.
Andre Taylor, leader of the Westside Gangster Crips, was shot and killed by Stapleton on April 3, 2017, outside of M&M Grocery on Montpelier Avenue, according to court records. The two were “homeboys” — even though Stapleton was a member of rival gang Gangster Disciples — until an altercation that occurred the day before Taylor’s death, according to court records.
Stapleton argued that, during his trial, bailiffs didn’t swear an oath before taking charge of a jury; that his attorneys at trial provided ineffective assistance for not objecting to the admission of certain photographs and evidence of his prior drug convictions; and that the judge erred for not instructing the jury on whether he should be charged with voluntary manslaughter instead of murder, according to court records
The altercation occurred April 2, 2017, at a “bootleg” bar Taylor owned. Stapleton wanted to buy a beer but was 50 cents short. While ordering Stapleton to leave, Taylor “came with a big log swinging and broke (Stapleton’s) arm,” according to court records.
The next day, Taylor and other Crips members were socializing around M&M Grocery, court records show. Stapleton arrived at the convenience store on foot, and had a conversation with Taylor while the two walked toward a dumpster. Though Stapleton argued that Taylor was threatening him, the surveillance camera captured a “normal” and “non-heated” conversation, according to the justices.
A gray sedan then pulled up near the men and Taylor started a conversation with the driver. Stapleton grabbed a gun from behind the dumpster and “shot Taylor in the back of the head,” the justices said.
“Taylor immediately fell to the ground, and the gray sedan sped away,” according to court records. He died the next day at a local hospital.
Stapleton later went to the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office because people on Facebook were suggesting he killed Taylor. After initially lying to investigators about his involvement, he later said he was afraid Taylor or other Crips members would kill him, according to court records.
Jurors ruled Stapleton was guilty on murder and aggravated assault charges, but was acquitted of gang-crime charges. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Why the justices ruled against Stapleton
The justices disagreed on all of Stapleton’s arguments in his request for a new trial, they said.
Typically, if bailiffs aren’t sworn in before taking charge of jurors, that could grant a new trial, but Stapleton had to provide evidence of this . Though Stapleton’s attorneys testified they didn’t recall the bailiffs being sworn, and the trial transcripts didn’t indicate where an oath was administered, it’s not enough to support the claim.
“Neither the ‘negative testimony’ of Stapleton’s trial attorneys ‘that they had no recollection of seeing (the bailiffs) sworn,’ nor the absence of the oath from the transcripts and audio recordings, affirmatively show that the oath had not been administered to the bailiffs such that they were not sworn before Stapleton’s trial,” the justices said.
As for Stapleton’s attorneys being accused of providing ineffective assistance, the justices said they didn’t act in an “objectively unreasonable way,” according to court records. Though Stapleton argued that a picture of Taylor’s injuries in a pre-incision autopsy would have sufficiently showed jurors what the cause of death was, the post-incision autopsy pictures showed “the severity of Taylor’s injuries, which the medical examiner emphasized in explaining Taylor’s cause of death,” justices said.
If Stapleton’s attorneys objected to the admission of the pictures, the judge would have acted reasonably and overruled the objection, the justices said.
Further, the attorneys’ decision to not object to admitting Stapleton’s prior convictions as evidence could have been part of their legal strategy, the justices said.
The justices also said “there was not even slight evidence to support (a voluntary manslaughter) here.” That charge involves a person killing another when they are acting as a result of a sudden violent and irresistible passion provoked by the victim, the justices said.
Stapleton never testified that he was angry, mad, or any other response that would indicate he reacted passionately, justices said. Shooting Taylor in self-defense was not enough to support his claim, thereby fully denying Stapleton a new trial.
Stapleton will continue serving his sentence at Smith State Prison.
