Byron v. State, 303 Ga. 218

On July 4, 1999, Virgil White was shot and killed outside a Tifton club; he died from a gunshot entering his back and striking his heart and lung.
Appellant Reno Byron was seen earlier that day carrying a Tec-9 and a .380; later investigation showed the fatal wound was from a .380.
During an altercation after the club closed, witnesses saw Byron and others firing; three witnesses testified Byron shot at White, including one who saw him shoot from behind.
Byron’s defense at trial was that he was not the shooter and suggested Ricky Jackson was the shooter; Byron did not testify.
Byron was convicted by a jury of malice murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and sentenced to life plus five years; other counts were merged or nolle prossed.
Byron appealed asserting (1) insufficiency of the evidence and (2) ineffective assistance of counsel (four specific contentions); the trial court denied his amended motion for new trial after long post-trial delays in the record.

Issue	Byron's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence for malice murder and firearm possession	Evidence was insufficient to prove Byron was the shooter	Witnesses placed Byron at scene with guns and several eyewitnesses saw him shoot at White	Evidence sufficient to support convictions under Jackson v. Virginia standard
Failure to preserve claim that counsel inadequately prepared a defense witness	Trial counsel failed to prepare a defense witness who was impeached	Claim not preserved because not raised with new counsel in amended motion for new trial	Claim not preserved for appeal
Failure to request lesser-included offense jury charge	Trial counsel erred by not requesting a lesser-included offense charge	Issue was abandoned on appeal for lack of developed argument	Abandoned; no appellate relief
Ineffective assistance for insufficient investigation about guns and for not asserting a justification defense	Counsel failed to investigate gun-use evidence and should have asserted justification (self-defense) because victim was armed	Counsel investigated gun usage and reasonably pursued strategy that Byron was not the shooter; Byron consistently maintained he didn’t shoot	Byron failed to show deficient performance or prejudice; counsel not ineffective

Jackson v. Virginia, [citation="443 U.S. 307"] (standard for sufficiency of the evidence)
Vega v. State, [citation="285 Ga. 32"] (jury resolves witness credibility and conflicts)
Gomez v. State, [citation="301 Ga. 445"] (ineffective-assistance standards and preservation rules)
Strickland v. Washington, [citation="466 U.S. 668"] (two-prong ineffective assistance test)
Brown v. State, [citation="301 Ga. 728"] (prejudice requirement and need to proffer what further investigation would show)
Morrison v. State, [citation="300 Ga. 426"] (reasonable strategic choice to assert non-shooter defense)
Threatt v. State, [citation="293 Ga. 549"] (mootness of certain convictions when not sentenced)
Plez v. State, [citation="300 Ga. 505"] (appellate review limited to legal sufficiency of the evidence)