In the Supreme Court of Georgia
Decided: November 2, 2021
S21A1152. GARCIA-MARTINEZ v. THE STATE.
BOGGS, Presiding Justice.
Miguel Angel Garcia-Martinez was convicted of malice murder,
four counts of aggravated assault, and four counts of possession of a
firearm during the commission of a felony in connection with the
2018 shooting death of his friend and former roommate, Daniel
Antonio-Lopez, and the aggravated assaults of Antonio-Lopez, Juan
Carlos Mondragon, Saul Roman-Pintado, and Francisco Lopez.1
1 The murder occurred on January 6, 2018. On April 6, 2018, a Newton
County grand jury indicted Garcia-Martinez for malice murder, felony murder,
four counts of aggravated assault, and four counts of possession of a firearm
during the commission of a felony. Garcia-Martinez was tried before a jury
from January 13 to 17, 2020, and was found guilty on all counts. On February
4, 2020, Garcia-Martinez was sentenced to serve life in prison for murder; 20
years in prison consecutive to the life sentence for the first aggravated assault
count; 20 years on each of the remaining aggravated assault counts concurrent
with the first aggravated assault count; and consecutive five-year terms for
each of the four firearm possession counts. On February 28, 2020, Garcia-
Martinez’s trial counsel filed a timely motion for new trial, which she amended
The trial court denied Garcia-Martinez’s motion for new trial, and
he appeals, asserting as his sole enumeration of error the sufficiency
of the evidence to support his convictions. Finding the evidence
sufficient, we affirm.
Construed in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdicts, the
evidence showed that Garcia-Martinez and the victim, Antonio-
Lopez, were friends, but they were having a disagreement about
money. Garcia-Martinez said that Antonio-Lopez owed him money,
but Antonio-Lopez said he had already paid Garcia-Martinez. A
witness testified that Garcia-Martinez had threatened on multiple
occasions to kill Antonio-Lopez if Antonio-Lopez did not pay him
back.
On January 6, 2018, Francisco Lopez drove Garcia-Martinez to
the home of their friend Mondragon, a mechanic, to inquire about
car repairs. Mondragon was aware that Antonio-Lopez would be
on July 17, 2020. The parties waived a hearing on the motion, which was
denied on February 25, 2021. Garcia-Martinez’s notice of appeal was filed on
March 17, 2021, and the case was docketed in this Court for the August 2021
term and submitted for decision on the briefs.
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coming to pick up a paycheck, and he cautioned Garcia-Martinez
that he did not want any trouble. Garcia-Martinez responded,
“[T]hat’s fine. You won’t have problems here.”
All three men testified that when Antonio-Lopez and Roman-
Pintado arrived, Garcia-Martinez immediately began arguing with
Antonio-Lopez about the money, and Antonio-Lopez pushed him.
Mondragon separated them and told them to calm down, but they
began arguing again. Garcia-Martinez had a loaded pistol on his hip,
which he kept reaching for, and Antonio-Lopez told Garcia-Martinez
not to draw it. Garcia-Martinez threw a drink on Antonio-Lopez, and
Antonio-Lopez responded by pushing him. Then, Garcia-Martinez
drew the pistol, shot at Antonio-Lopez, and missed. At that point,
Mondragon intervened to try to stop the fight and get the gun from
Garcia-Martinez. Antonio-Lopez also tried to take the gun away.
They were unsuccessful, and during the struggle Garcia-Martinez
fired the pistol again, this time striking Antonio-Lopez, who fell to
the ground. Mondragon and Garcia-Martinez also fell, and Garcia-
Martinez shot at Antonio-Lopez from the ground, striking him
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again. Then, Garcia-Martinez got up, walked over to where Antonio-
Lopez was lying, stood over him, cursed at him, and shot him a final
time in the head. All three witnesses testified that Antonio-Lopez
did not have a gun or a knife, that no one on the scene was armed
but Garcia-Martinez, and that Antonio-Lopez was not the aggressor
in the conflict.
After Garcia-Martinez shot Antonio-Lopez for the final time,
he walked over to Mondragon, pointed the pistol at him, and
threatened him. Garcia-Martinez then demanded that someone give
him car keys as he pointed the gun at Mondragon, Francisco Lopez,
and Roman-Pintado. Mondragon’s wife heard the shots and saw
Antonio-Lopez and Mondragon lying on the ground, while Garcia-
Martinez stood there with a black gun in his hand. She shouted that
she was calling the police, and told her mother to call the police.
Garcia-Martinez ran into the woods behind the house. When a
sheriff’s deputy responded to the scene, he observed Antonio-Lopez
lying on the ground in a pool of blood, not moving, with a bullet
wound in his forehead. Paramedics shortly thereafter pronounced
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Antonio-Lopez dead. Sheriff’s deputies and a criminal investigator
recovered three .45 ACP shell casings and one spent .45-caliber
round at the scene.
Garcia-Martinez called a friend, Abraham Marques, and asked
Marques for a ride. Several motorists notified the police after they
saw Garcia-Martinez, with mud on his clothes, running across an
open field near the scene of the shooting and getting into Marques’
car. City of Covington police officers stopped the car several miles
from the crime scene, and Newton County sheriff’s deputies arrived
and took Marques and Garcia-Martinez into custody. A deputy
found a live .45 ACP round in Garcia-Martinez’s pocket and a loaded
and cocked .45 ACP pistol on the floor behind the front passenger
seat, next to a separate, loaded magazine.
After Garcia-Martinez was arrested, he was read his Miranda
rights 2 through an interpreter because he did not speak English.
Garcia-Martinez then agreed to speak with an investigator, also
2 See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (86 SCt 1602, 16 LE2d 694)
(1966).
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through an interpreter. He stated that he shot Antonio-Lopez, that
Antonio-Lopez never struck him, and that Antonio-Lopez was
unarmed. Garcia-Martinez said that he pulled out the gun because
he “just wanted to scare” Antonio-Lopez, that the gun “discharged
itself” when the men fell and the others landed on him, and that it
“shoots and works by itself.”
At trial, a GBI firearms examiner confirmed that the fatal
bullets were fired from the pistol found in Marques’ car. The
examiner also testified that the pistol was in proper working order,
the safeties were functioning properly, and the pistol did not display
any defect that would cause a discharge without pulling the trigger.
The examiner further testified that the pistol was equipped with a
“grip safety,” which prevents the firearm from discharging unless it
is held firmly in the hand.
The medical examiner testified that, of a total of five gunshot
wounds inflicted on Antonio-Lopez, either of two – the head wound
or a spinal-column wound – alone would have been fatal, but he
could not testify to the order in which they were inflicted. The
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medical examiner further testified that the head wound showed a
large amount of “stippling” – penetration of the skin by burned and
unburned gunpowder – indicating that the wound was inflicted at
relatively close range, between six inches and two feet.
Garcia-Martinez testified at trial as follows. Antonio-Lopez
was the aggressor and approached Garcia-Martinez arguing about
money. Then, Antonio-Lopez cursed him, pushed him, grabbed him
by the neck, and told him, “I am going to beat the hell out of you
right now.” Garcia-Martinez tried to disengage, but Antonio-Lopez
again grabbed him, threatened him, and tried to grab his gun, so
Garcia-Martinez pulled the pistol out to try to scare Antonio-Lopez.
Antonio-Lopez and Mondragon then attacked Garcia-Martinez, the
gun accidentally discharged, they all fell to the ground, and the gun
discharged again. Next, Mondragon tried to grab the pistol, and “it
discharge[d] because he was trying to take it.” Garcia-Martinez tried
to get a set of car keys from the other men because he was afraid
and wanted to leave. He also testified that he approached a police
officer to try to tell the officer what had happened, but the officer
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said he was busy and would come back later. 3 Garcia-Martinez
added that he was not angry with Antonio-Lopez about the money.
Garcia-Martinez also acknowledged that his original statement to
police was inconsistent with the physical evidence presented at trial.
Garcia-Martinez argues only that the State failed to present
sufficient evidence as a matter of constitutional due process to
support his convictions. He contends that the testimony of the three
eyewitnesses – Mondragon, Lopez, and Roman-Pintado – was
contradictory on so many points “that their credibility is severely
limited,” noting inconsistencies with regard to the argument leading
up to the shooting, the location of the participants, the timing of the
shots, and the length of time involved. He argues that Antonio-Lopez
instigated the trouble by attacking him, that the other three men on
the scene were Antonio-Lopez’s friends, and that he was in fear for
his life. He further argues that there was no evidence of malice
3 A Newton County sheriff’s deputy testified that as he was waiting on
the main road for backup to respond to the report of a shooting, a man he
identified as Garcia-Martinez came out of the woods and approached his patrol
car. The deputy did not have any information regarding the shooter and did
not speak Spanish, so he “waved him off.”
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because the gun fired accidentally. Finally, he asserts that his
attempt to contact a police officer after the shooting was “not the
action of a guilty man.”
While Garcia-Martinez disputes the evidence and the
credibility of the witnesses, “[i]ssues of witness credibility and
justification are for the jury to decide, and the jury is free to reject a
defendant’s claim that he acted in self-defense.” (Citations and
punctuation omitted.) Butler v. State, 309 Ga. 755, 758 (1) (848 SE2d
97) (2020). Likewise, the jury was free to reject Garcia-Martinez’s
claim of accident. See Middleton v. State, 310 Ga. 365, 369 (1) (850
SE2d 126) (2020). Garcia-Martinez argues that the State failed to
prove malice. However, the jury could find malice based upon
Garcia-Martinez’s threats to kill Antonio-Lopez, his instigation and
escalation of the quarrel, and his firing multiple shots at Antonio-
Lopez, culminating in his standing over the helpless man as he lay
dying on the ground, cursing him, and shooting him at close range
in the forehead. See Moran v. State, 302 Ga. 162, 164 (1) (b) (805
SE2d 856) (2017) (“evidence that the defendant acted where no
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considerable provocation appears and where all the circumstances
of the killing show an abandoned and malignant heart” sufficient to
establish malice (citations and punctuation omitted.)). And
“[a]lthough the eyewitness accounts of the shooting did vary to some
extent, it was for the jury to determine the credibility of the
witnesses and to resolve any conflicts or inconsistencies in the
evidence.” (Citations and punctuation omitted.) Bighams v. State,
296 Ga. 267, 268-269 (1) (b) (765 SE2d 917) (2014). The evidence as
recited above was constitutionally sufficient to support the
convictions. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307, 319 (III) (B) (99
SCt 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979).
Judgment affirmed. All the Justices concur.
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