Bonner v. State, 308 Ga. App. 827

Bonner was convicted after a jury trial of three counts of simple battery, false imprisonment, and robbery; aggregate sentence was ten years to serve with five years on probation.
Appeal argued ineffective assistance of trial counsel and improper merger of simple battery and false imprisonment into robbery.
Singletary, the co-defendant who pled guilty, testified at Bonner's trial under a plea deal.
Counsel did not cross-examine Singletary about his plea; jury polling was not conducted.
Court held battery counts merged into robbery but false imprisonment did not merge; affirmed robbery/false imprisonment, vacated battery sentences and remanded for resentencing.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Ineffective assistance for not cross-examining Singletary	Bonner	State	No reversible error; no prejudice shown
Ineffective assistance for not polling the jury	Bonner	State	Not error; no requirement to poll under these facts
Merger of battery into robbery	Bonner	State	Batteries merge with robbery; false imprisonment does not merge

Clowers v. State, 299 Ga. App. 576 (2009) (ineffective assistance/prejudice standard)
Allen v. State, 286 Ga. 392 (2010) (standard for prejudice in ineffectiveness claims)
Cooper v. State, 281 Ga. 760 (2007) (trial tactics specifics in ineffective assistance)
McDaniel v. State, 279 Ga. 801 (2005) (trial strategy preserved assessment of cross-examination decisions)
Hall v. Terrell, 285 Ga. 448 (2009) (standard for evaluating strategic trial decisions)
Serrate v. State, 268 Ga. App. 276 (2004) (tactical decisions not reversed absent patently unreasonable choices)
Marshall v. State, 285 Ga. 351 (2009) (ineffectiveness claims require prejudice showing)
Davis v. State, 186 Ga. App. 491 (1988) (merger/continuous act considerations)
Thompson v. State, 291 Ga. App. 355 (2008) (merger analysis for multiple battery counts)
Kinney v. State, 234 Ga. App. 5 (1998) (robbery by force; battery merged when same force used)