Kilpatrick v. Georgia
Annotate this CaseAppellant Charles Kilpatrick, Jr. appeals his convictions related to the shooting death of Joseph Wilder. In 1998, appellant and Wilder were driving westbound on I-20 in their respective vehicles. Appellant’s friend, Marcuss Herndon, was a passenger in appellant’s vehicle. Witnesses testified that appellant’s and Wilder’s vehicles were bumping into each other on the highway. The two vehicles ultimately ended up stopped in the emergency lane with Wilder’s vehicle, which was a maroon SUV, parked behind appellant’s vehicle, which was a dark-colored truck. Witnesses stated they saw appellant, who was positioned behind the back of his truck and in front of Wilder’s forward-facing SUV, point a gun at and fire it several times into Wilder’s vehicle, all while calmly walking backwards towards his truck. Herndon, who remained in the passenger seat of appellant’s vehicle, testified that he heard gunshots, but that he did not actually see the shooting. Immediately after his arrest, appellant told police he shot Wilder in self-defense. On appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court, appellant challenged the sufficiency of the evidence presented at trial, contending the State failed to meet its burden of disproving his defense of justification. He also argued the trial court made multiple errors, including excluding his expert witness, and excluding evidence that Wilder was a member of a motorcycle gang. Finding no reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed appellant’s conviction.
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