State Supreme Court upholds conviction in 2017 murder at Smyrna gas station

Apr. 18—The Georgia Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of a Thomaston man for murdering another man in 2017 at a Smyrna gas station.

Joseph Priester had appealed to the high court after a Cobb County jury in 2018 found him guilty of murdering Genaro Rojas-Martinez.

After his conviction, Priester was sentenced by Judge Henry Thompson to life in prison without parole, plus five years.

In his appeal, Priester's lawyers had argued that the trial court incorrectly admitted evidence that Priester had robbed someone and shot at their car the day before Rojas-Martinez was murdered.

The defense had objected to the court admitting the evidence at the time, but the trial court overruled them, believing it was relevant to show Priester "had a gun similar to the one shown in the gas station footage, knew about handguns, had previously fired a handgun, and was in Georgia when the crime was committed," according to the Supreme Court.

The state conceded to the high court that the evidence was admitted improperly to prove certain facts, but not others.

In determining whether the trial court's error was harmful or not, the Supreme Court, citing precedent, examined whether reasonable jurors would have convicted Priester without the disputed evidence. The high court determined that in this case, the evidence against Priester was strong enough to convict him without it.

The court cited surveillance footage from the gas station where Rojas-Martinez was shot showing Priester's face, profile and the car he drove that night, testimony that Priester was in possession of said car that night, and cell phone records placing him near the scene of the crime.

Additionally, the court concluded that any harm caused by the disputed evidence was mitigated by instructions given to jurors about how they could consider that evidence.

"Therefore, given the strength of the evidence against Appellant (Priester) and the trial court's limiting instructions, we conclude that it is highly probable that the admission of the armed-robbery and shooting evidence did not contribute to the verdict," the court wrote.

In the jury trial, prosecutors alleged that around 11 p.m. on May 15, 2017, Priester walked up behind Rojas-Martinez outside the gas station and shot him in the back of the head, before fleeing.

After Smyrna investigators identified Priester as the suspect, U.S. marshals tracked Priester to New Jersey and arrested him there.

Before the murder, Priester had been convicted of aggravated assault in 2013 in Upson County, the MDJ previously reported.

Rojas-Martinez was a husband and father of three, the MDJ previously reported.