Bonner v. State, 295 Ga. 10

On Aug. 6, 2004, Terry Adams was fatally shot and Kenneth Perkins was pistol-whipped and shot during a robbery; attackers fled in a recently stolen white Chevrolet Monte Carlo later seen in Bonner’s possession. 9mm casings and .38 fragments were recovered; Bonner’s fingerprint was found on the Monte Carlo driver’s window.
Perkins initially failed to identify Bonner in a photo lineup at the hospital but later recognized him at a bond hearing and again at trial; an acquaintance gave investigatory statements linking Bonner to the car and statements about the killings but recanted at trial.
Bonner was indicted and tried in Bibb County; the jury convicted him of felony murder (from aggravated assault), aggravated assault, and theft by receiving; he received life plus consecutive terms.
On appeal Bonner argued (1) ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to object to Perkins’s identifications and for not seeking curative relief after an improper question about a prior arrest, and (2) that the trial court’s public reprimand of his lawyer demonstrated bias in violation of OCGA § 17-8-57.
The Supreme Court of Georgia independently reviewed legal sufficiency and denied Bonner’s ineffective assistance and judicial-bias claims, affirming the convictions.

Issue	Bonner’s Argument	State’s Argument	Held
Legal sufficiency of the evidence	Evidence insufficient to support convictions	Evidence (eyewitness ID, fingerprint, circumstantial links) supports convictions	Affirmed: evidence legally sufficient under Jackson v. Virginia
Ineffective assistance — failure to object to pretrial and in-court ID	Counsel should have objected to suggestive pretrial ID and tainted in-court ID	Pretrial identification involved no state suggestion; credibility for jury; objection would not have succeeded	Denied: no deficient performance or prejudice under Strickland
Ineffective assistance — failure to seek limiting instruction/mistrial after prosecutor’s question about prior arrest	Counsel should have sought curative instruction or mistrial when prosecutor asked about prior aggravated assault arrest	The question was immediately objected to, no answer given, jury excused, court ordered topic avoided, and jury later instructed that questions are not evidence; further remedy not necessarily advisable	Denied: reasonable strategy and no reasonable probability of different outcome
Judicial reprimand/public bias (OCGA § 17-8-57)	Trial court’s reprimand of defense counsel before jury showed hostility/bias requiring reversal	Court controlled counsel’s improper, convoluted questioning, warned jury not to infer opinion, and did not express bias or comment on guilt	Denied: court’s interventions were within discretion and not unduly hostile; no reversible bias

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (standard for reviewing legal sufficiency of evidence)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (two-part test for ineffective assistance of counsel)
Neil v. Biggers, 409 U.S. 188 (test for suggestive pretrial identifications)
Kimmelman v. Morrison, 477 U.S. 365 (ineffective-assistance principles in Fourth Amendment context)
Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362 (prejudice standard under Strickland)
Sweet v. State, 278 Ga. 320 (pretrial identification outside courtroom comparable to this case)
Hargrove v. State, 291 Ga. 879 (ineffective-assistance burden and analysis)
Pearce v. State, 300 Ga. App. 777 (failure to seek remedial action does not establish ineffectiveness absent prejudice)
Johnson v. State, 281 Ga. 770 (standards for remedial action after improper comment)
Dyke v. State, 232 Ga. 817 (trial court’s duty to control proceedings and counsel conduct)
Buttram v. State, 280 Ga. 595 (trial court’s discretion in dealing with counsel; mistrial standards)