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Huguley v. State2/22/2000
Meldamion Huguley was convicted by a jury on two counts of aggravated assault on February 11, 1999. He appeals from the trial court's denial of his motion for new trial, which raised, inter alia, the issue of ineffective counsel. We find no error and, therefore, affirm.
The facts, viewed in a light most favorable to the jury's verdict, are as follows: On his eighteenth birthday, Huguley received $108,000, the proceeds of a settlement from a personal injury suit arising from a childhood injury. Huguley soon adopted the habit of carrying around several thousand dollars in cash. On June 23, 1998, Huguley began arguing with a friend on Tiffany Circle in DeKalb County in the presence of several other people, including children. The two exchanged gunfire, and Huguley shot his friend in the arm. Huguley then went into a house and emerged with a semi-automatic weapon, "the type of gun that . . . you clean the streets with." However, the gun jammed on Huguley and he left. Huguley was not charged in this incident because his friend refused to cooperate with police.
On the day of that shooting, however, Carlos Valcarcel was visiting his brother, Paul, who lived on Tiffany Circle. Carlos witnessed the shooting incident and Paul called 911. Carlos gave a statement to police officers.
Approximately two weeks later, Huguley returned and Paul Valcarcel called the police. A police officer responded and talked to Paul and Huguley separately. After the officer left, however, Paul overheard Huguley tell his friends that "I was wanted for a shooting; now, I'm going to be wanted for murder." Paul became concerned and asked Carlos and his wife, Belinda, to come over. Later, as Carlos and Belinda were leaving Paul's house that evening, Huguley drove up and parked his blue Cadillac in the middle of the road. A white car pulled in behind him. Huguley emerged from the Cadillac and approached the white car while holding a handgun. The Valcarcels were frightened and, with their car headlights turned off, slowly backed out of Paul's driveway, hoping that they would not attract Huguley's attention. Carlos drove down the street and attempted to leave the neighborhood, but soon realized that Huguley was following him. Huguley attempted to pass the Valcarcels, but Carlos swerved and prevented Huguley from passing, because he feared that Huguley would shoot him and his wife. Huguley then shot his gun from the car. Carlos turned into a side street, but was unaware that it had no exit; the street circled around in a "9" shape, meeting the entrance road. Huguley was familiar with the street layout, and parked his car in the middle of the street to block the exit and prevent the Valcarcels from leaving. Huguley exited his car and hid behind a tree. When the Valcarcels drove toward him, Huguley "ambushed" them by jumping from behind the tree and shooting his gun several times as he approached the Valcarcels' car. Carlos put the car in reverse, backed into a space between two houses, and turned off the headlights. Carlos walked around the back of the houses to see if it was safe before he finally left the area several minutes later. The Valcarcels testified that they were afraid that they were "going to be shot" and that they were "hysterical" and "in shock." Carlos Valcarcels described the experience as "one of the worst nightmares you can ever get into, wondering if you're going to get out of it alive or not."
Huguley returned to Tiffany Circle and drove by Paul's house three times, stopping in front of the house each time. In the meantime, Carlos called his brother, because he was afraid that Huguley was going to go back to that area. Carlos also called the police, then spotted Huguley's Cadillac at a nea
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