Wofford v. State

827 S.E.2d 652, 305 Ga. 694
Supreme Court of Georgia·Decided April 29, 2019·No. S19A0129·Published·Cited by 12 cases

Opinion

Blackwell, Justice.

**694Briones Ladon Wofford was tried by a Floyd County jury and convicted of murder and other crimes in connection with the fatal shooting of Jimmie Sellers and the wounding of Mardell Blackburn. Wofford appeals, contending that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel. Upon our review of the record and briefs, we find no merit in this claim. We do note, however, that the trial court erred when it failed to merge an aggravated assault and an aggravated battery, both of which are based on the infliction of a single gunshot **695wound upon Blackburn. We vacate the conviction and sentence for aggravated assault, and we otherwise affirm.1 *6551. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the record shows that Wofford and his girlfriend, Tennah Gueh, went to a nightclub in Rome on the evening of February 27, 2016. Early the next morning, Sellers came to the club with his brother, Denier Floyd. Around 1:45 a.m., Wofford approached Floyd outside the club, where Floyd was talking to some women. Wofford pulled out a pistol, and when he refused to put it away, Floyd and Sellers decided to leave. Floyd and Sellers then drove to a house in south Rome, where Blackburn was living.

When Floyd and Sellers arrived at the home, they found not only Blackburn, but also Wofford in the front yard.2 Sellers confronted Wofford about the incident at the club. The confrontation escalated, and Sellers punched Wofford in the face, knocking him to the ground. Blackburn intervened, and as he began to walk with Sellers across the street, Wofford picked up his pistol (which had fallen out of his pants when he fell) and fired at them. The gunshot struck Blackburn in the head, and he fell to the ground. Wofford then pursued Sellers around a parked car, continuing to shoot at him. When Sellers stopped and asked Wofford if he was "really going to kill [him] like this," Wofford shot Sellers in the head and fled the scene with Gueh. Blackburn survived the shooting, but Sellers did not.

(a) Wofford does not dispute that the evidence is sufficient to sustain his convictions. But consistent with our usual practice in murder cases, we have reviewed the record to assess for ourselves the legal sufficiency of the evidence. We conclude that the evidence presented at trial, when viewed in the light most favorable to the **696verdicts, was sufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Wofford was guilty of the crimes of which he was convicted. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319 (III) (B), 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).

(b) Although the jury was authorized by the evidence to find Wofford guilty of both an aggravated assault and an aggravated battery upon Blackburn, the trial court was authorized to enter a judgment of conviction and impose sentence for only one of those offenses. As charged in the indictment, the aggravated assault and the aggravated battery both were based on the single gunshot that struck Blackburn in the head. The trial court should have merged those crimes. See Regent v. State, 299 Ga. 172, 176, 787 S.E.2d 217 (2016) (aggravated assault merged with aggravated battery where both crimes were based on the same conduct toward the same victim). Because it did not, we vacate the conviction and sentence for aggravated assault.

2. Wofford claims that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel at trial. To prevail on this claim of ineffective assistance, Wofford must prove that his lawyer performed deficiently at trial and that Wofford was prejudiced by this deficient performance. See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687 (III), 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). To prove deficient performance, Wofford must show that defense counsel performed his duties at trial in an *656objectively unreasonable way, considering all the circumstances and in the light of prevailing professional norms. Id. at 687-688 (III) (A), 104 S.Ct. 2052. See also Kimmelman v. Morrison, 477 U.S. 365, 381 (II) (C), 106 S.Ct. 2574, 91 L.Ed.2d 305 (1986). And to prove that he was prejudiced by this deficient performance, Wofford must show "a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome." Strickland, 466 U.S. at 694 (III) (B), 104 S.Ct. 2052. This burden is a heavy one, see Kimmelman, 477 U.S. at 382 (II) (C), 106 S.Ct. 2574, and we conclude that Wofford has failed to carry it.

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Wofford v. State, 827 S.E.2d 652, 305 Ga. 694 (Ga. 2019).

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