Carr v. State, 301 Ga. 128

In 1997 Ernest Golden was shot and killed; Joe Anthony Carr was identified by witnesses at the scene and charged. Carr had a prior felony and was allegedly carrying an assault rifle.
Carr was originally tried in 1999, convicted of murder, and his conviction was affirmed on appeal; the trial court later granted an extraordinary new trial after Carr’s brother confessed to the killing (the brother later recanted).
At Carr’s second trial in October 2011 a jury convicted him of felony murder (based on unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon) and he received life imprisonment; other counts were merged or vacated.
Carr filed a motion for new trial raising ineffective-assistance claims and alleging the trial court derailed a plea negotiation; the trial court denied relief and Carr appealed.
The Supreme Court of Georgia reviewed legal sufficiency and Carr’s claims of ineffective assistance for failure to call his brother and for plea handling, and whether the trial court improperly refused to indicate willingness to accept a proposed plea.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of the evidence	Evidence was insufficient to support felony murder conviction	Witness ID and other evidence supported conviction	Evidence legally sufficient to support conviction under Jackson v. Virginia
Ineffective assistance — failure to call brother as witness	Counsel was deficient for not calling brother who had confessed	Counsel reasonably declined because brother had recanted, gave damaging recorded statement, and calling him was risky trial strategy	No deficient performance; decision was reasonable trial strategy and not prejudicial under Strickland
Ineffective assistance — plea negotiation handling	Counsel failed to "lock down" State’s 25-year offer; counsel’s conduct prejudiced Carr	Counsel consulted with Carr and Carr rejected the original offer to seek a better deal; rejecting offer was Carr’s decision	No deficient performance; ultimate decision to accept or reject plea was Carr’s after consultation (Upton v. Parks)
Trial court derailed plea negotiations by refusing to indicate likely acceptance of a proposed 25-year plea	Trial court’s refusal discouraged State from finalizing plea and harmed Carr	Court had no duty to assure parties in advance; judges may but are not required to indicate likely concurrence before a plea hearing	No error; court was not obligated to give advance assurance and did not derail plea negotiations

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (legal sufficiency standard for criminal convictions)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (ineffective-assistance two-part test)
Kimmelman v. Morrison, 477 U.S. 365 (standards for counsel performance in criminal cases)
Williams v. Taylor, 529 U.S. 362 (prejudice inquiry in ineffective-assistance claims)
Carr v. State, 275 Ga. 185 (prior appeal and discussion of trial strategy)
Malcolm v. State, 263 Ga. 369 (merging/vacating redundant convictions)
Upton v. Parks, 284 Ga. 254 (defendant’s control of plea decision after consultation)
Sanders v. State, 280 Ga. 780 (no right to have guilty plea accepted; judge not required to pre-commit to disposition)