Carter v. Georgia
Annotate this CaseAppellant Marquerius Dandre Carter was convicted of malice murder and two firearm offenses in connection with the shooting death of Sarferaz Khan. Around 1:00 a.m. on February morning in 2016, Khan was closing the grocery store he owned. Two of his employees, Lynda Rowe and her son Otis, were helping. While the Rowes were outside the store’s doors locking up, Khan picked up trash in the parking lot. Otis saw a person coming around the corner of the store, and both Otis and Lynda heard a man yell, “Don’t move, don’t move,” followed by multiple gunshots. Surveillance video recordings of the parking lot show the man, later identified as Appellant, running into the parking lot with a white t-shirt wrapped around his face and a gun in his hand. Appellant ran toward Khan and fired at least two shots at Khan as Khan ran away, drew his own gun, and fired at least one shot. The Rowes testified that after the two men fell, they struggled on the ground. Appellant had dropped his .380 pistol; he tried to regain control of it, but Lynda, who had run toward the men, grabbed it, pointed it at Appellant, and told him, “Don’t move.” After Otis called 911, Lynda handed him Appellant’s gun, and Otis started repeatedly kicking Appellant. Lynda and Otis also took the t-shirt off Appellant’s face. Appellant told Otis, “I’m sorry Bro. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do it.” Meanwhile, Lynda checked on Khan, saw his .40-caliber pistol, picked it up, and kept it until she went to the police department later that morning. Khan was not moving or speaking when Lynda checked on him. Emergency medical personnel found Khan laying face down in the parking lot with no detectable pulse. He took three or four gasping breaths, but then he stopped breathing and could not be revived. Khan had been shot three times: once in the chest, once in the left thigh, and once in the right knee. Appellant disputed the legal sufficiency of the evidence supporting his convictions, arguing that the Rowes were not credible witnesses and that the State failed to prove that he killed Khan with malicious intent rather than in self-defense. Finding the evidence sufficient to support Appellant's conviction, and that his counsel did not render constitutionally ineffective assistance, the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed Appellant's conviction.
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