Black v. State, 296 Ga. 658

In December 2008, D’hari Black and her husband brought their 11‑month‑old son (unresponsive with severe head trauma) and 2‑year‑old daughter (multiple recent and older injuries) to the hospital; the son died shortly thereafter.
Medical evidence showed the son died of non‑accidental blunt force head trauma inflicted after midnight; the daughter had rib fractures, burns, and wounds consistent with being struck or with a looped cord/belt.
Appellant was alone with the children for most of the period during which the fatal injuries occurred; bloodstains and vomit were found in the son’s bedroom. Appellant gave multiple conflicting explanations for the injuries and had a prior history of untruthful explanations.
Appellant and her husband were tried jointly; a jury convicted Appellant of malice murder, aggravated assault, and cruelty to a child. Sentences included life for malice murder plus a consecutive 10 years for aggravated assault. Two felony‑murder verdicts were vacated by operation of law.
On appeal, Appellant argued (1) insufficient evidence because the husband could have acted alone (arguing under OCGA § 24‑4‑6) and (2) ineffective assistance because trial counsel failed to secure testimony of a former childcare friend who allegedly saw the husband abuse the children.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of the evidence (reasonable‑hypothesis rule)	Black: evidence did not exclude reasonable hypothesis that husband acted alone	State: evidence placed Black alone with children during injury window, medical and credibility evidence supported guilt or joint participation	Affirmed — evidence sufficient to convict Black as principal or party; jury could reject husband‑only hypothesis
Ineffective assistance for failing to locate witness	Black: counsel unreasonably failed to secure friend’s testimony that husband abused children, which would support defense	State: trial counsel made reasonable investigative choices; no proof Black identified the friend; friend’s testimony would have hurt Black’s defense	Affirmed — no deficient performance shown and no prejudice because friend’s testimony placed Black at incidents and undermined her defense

Merritt v. State, 285 Ga. 778 (explains reasonable‑hypothesis standard for circumstantial evidence)
Carter v. State, 276 Ga. 322 (jury’s role in assessing alternative hypotheses)
Jones v. State, 292 Ga. 656 (criminal intent can be inferred from conduct before, during, after offense)
Nixon v. State, 284 Ga. 800 (rejecting defendant’s alternative hypothesis as unreasonable)
Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (standard for sufficiency of the evidence)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (two‑prong test for ineffective assistance)
Kimmelman v. Morrison, 477 U.S. 365 (standards on counsel’s investigative duties)
Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362 (prejudice standard under Strickland)
Bulloch v. State, 293 Ga. 179 (scope of counsel’s reasonable pretrial investigation)
Moreno‑Rivera v. State, 291 Ga. 336 (failure to locate witness not ineffective without showing defendant identified witness)
Moore v. State, 288 Ga. 187 (prejudice analysis when proposed testimony undermines defense)
Malcolm v. State, 263 Ga. 369 (vacatur of redundant felony‑murder verdicts)