Clark v. State, 300 Ga. 899

On Feb. 5, 2008, Marlon Brown was fatally shot after an altercation at Xaviera Wood’s apartment; Clarence Clark possessed Brown’s handgun and chased and fired multiple shots, killing Brown.
Physical evidence showed shots fired from behind as Brown ran; shell casings were found both in the breezeway and near Brown’s body; blood trail led to the body.
Clark initially denied knowledge, then voluntarily went to the police ~2 months later, received Miranda warnings, signed a waiver, and gave a videotaped statement admitting he chased and shot Brown.
Clark was indicted for malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony; convicted by a jury in October 2014 and sentenced to life plus five years.
Clark’s amended motion for new trial was denied; on appeal he raises a single claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel based on (1) counsel’s failure to object to witnesses using the term “murder” at trial and (2) counsel’s failure to object to admission of Clark’s videotaped statement.

Issue	Clark's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Counsel failed to object to witnesses using the term “murder” during trial testimony	Use of the word prejudiced jury; counsel should have moved to exclude term	Jury was properly instructed on elements and burden; use of the word did not unfairly influence jury; prior authority permits witness use	Not ineffective: no prejudice shown; jury instructions and overwhelming evidence negated harm
Counsel failed to object to admission of Clark’s videotaped statement	Statement involuntary because Clark wasn’t told he was under arrest when interviewed; inconsistency in wording (“chased” vs “followed”) hurt self-defense claim	Clark came voluntarily, received Miranda warnings and waived rights; no coercion; counsel’s admission was strategic to preserve a defense	Not ineffective: statement admissible and counsel’s strategic choice was reasonable; no prejudice shown

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979) (standard for sufficiency of the evidence review)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) (two-prong test for ineffective assistance of counsel)
Capps v. State, 300 Ga. 6 (2016) (standard and presumption for evaluating counsel performance)
Hendrix v. State, 298 Ga. 60 (2015) (discussing ineffective assistance review and standards)
Nguyen v. State, 279 Ga. App. 129 (2006) (failure to seek motion in limine to exclude charged-term not necessarily ineffective where jury properly instructed)
Dawson v. State, 300 Ga. 332 (2016) (use of the word “murder” by witnesses does not automatically deny fair trial)
Bradshaw v. State, 300 Ga. 1 (2016) (voluntary waiver and voluntariness analysis of statements)
Smith v. State, 300 Ga. 532 (2017) (deference to reasonable trial strategy in ineffectiveness claims)
Byrd v. State, 274 Ga. 58 (2001) (post-trial second-guessing of trial strategy is insufficient for ineffectiveness)
Harris v. State, 297 Ga. App. 589 (2009) (custody alone does not render subsequent statement involuntary)