Colzie v. State, 289 Ga. 120

Colzie was convicted after a jury trial of malice murder, attempted armed robbery, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
The State's key eyewitness, Willie Johnson, testified Colzie approached in a parking lot, announced a robbery, and fatally shot the victim when the driver’s window gunfight occurred.
Johnson identified Colzie in a photo lineup and was corroborated by cell phone records and Johnson remaining in the vehicle during the offenses.
Colzie challenged the eyewitness credibility and argued the lack of forensic evidence and failure to recover the murder weapon.
Colzie raised multiple trial issues including hearsay, bolstering of witnesses, impeachment with pending charges, and a requested eyewitness-identification reliability instruction.
The trial court denied the new-trial motion; Colzie appealed via an out-of-time appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of the evidence	Colzie asserts insufficient evidence to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.	State contends Johnson's testimony and corroboration support guilt.	Evidence supports guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Admission of detective testimony about out-of-court statements	Detective testimony improperly bolstered witnesses by recounting out-of-court statements.	Statements were admissible when witnesses were cross-examined; proper foundation existed.	No reversible error; proper under curative cross-examination framework.
Impeachment with pending charges	Johnson's pending charges should have been admissible to impeach credibility.	Cross-examination did not expose any deal or motive; no error in limits on impeachment.	Trial court did not err; no prejudicial impact shown.
Jury instruction on eyewitness identification	Trial court should have given Colzie's requested reliability charge.	Waiver and plain-error analysis apply; no reversible error.	Waived; no plain-error reversible error.
Effectiveness of trial counsel re: impeachment	Counsel was ineffective for failing to impeach Johnson with pending charges.	No deficient performance proven; no prejudice shown.	No ineffective-assistance prejudice established.

Reeves v. State, 288 Ga. 545 (2011) (eyewitness credibility forjury; consistency with other evidence)
Mack v. State, 272 Ga. 415 (2000) (do not weigh testimony on appeal)
Willis v. State, 263 Ga. 597 (1993) (standard for reviewing new-trial/VCG decisions)
Moon v. State, 288 Ga. 508 (2011) (prior consistent statements admissible when fabrication attacked)
Blackmon v. State, 272 Ga. 858 (2000) (attack on veracity allows prior consistent statements; timing matters)
Hall v. State, 287 Ga. 755 (2010) (timing of cross-examination and admissibility of prior statements)
Davis v. State, 303 Ga. App. 799 (2010) (prior consistent statements requirement; fabrication timing)
Sapp v. State, 263 Ga. App. 122 (2003) (impeachment evidence standards for witnesses with deals)
Collier v. State, 288 Ga. 756 (2011) (plain-error review on jury-charge issues; waiver framework)
Howard v. State, 288 Ga. 741 (2011) (jury-charge error and plain-error considerations)