Weems v. State

William Fudge Weems was found guilty of malice murder, felony murder while in the commission of aggravated assault, felony murder while in possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in connection with the fatal shooting of Leon Anderson, III. 1 We affirm Weems' [267 Ga Page 183] convictions. The evidence, considered in a light most favorable to the verdict, disclosed that on November 25, 1991, Anderson and Shivers walked from their dormitory at Morehouse College to a local convenience store to purchase a six-pack of beer. Because the sales clerk refused to sell them beer without proper age identification, Anderson decided to approach Weems, whose car was parked in front of the gas pumps, and ask him to purchase the beer for them. According to the testimony of Shivers, Anderson was about five to six feet from Weems' car when Weems started yelling at Anderson. After a brief conversation, Anderson put his hands up and began backing away from Weems, stating, ""no problem, brother, cool."" At this point, Weems reached into the car and Shivers turned and ran. As Shivers was running, he heard a gunshot and turned to see Anderson stumble towards him and fall in the road. Weems admitted shooting and killing Anderson, but claimed that he acted in self-defense because he thought he was being robbed.