Davis v. State, 299 Ga. 180

In April 2009, 13‑month‑old Nila Flagler was left in appellant Sean Davis’s care overnight; she was found unresponsive the next morning, flown to Savannah, and died of skull/brain injuries.
Autopsy showed multiple external and internal injuries (skull fracture, subdural/subgaleal hemorrhages, retinal hemorrhages); State experts testified injuries resulted from recent acceleration‑deceleration trauma and blunt force, not an earlier accidental fall.
Davis testified he did not harm the child and presented an expert who opined prior falls could explain the injuries; State rebutted with its own forensic pathologist.
A jury convicted Davis of felony murder (predicate: first‑degree child cruelty) and first‑degree child cruelty; he received life for felony murder and 20 years concurrent for child cruelty.
On appeal Davis claimed ineffective assistance of counsel for (1) failing to invoke witness sequestration as to the defense expert’s recorded testimony, (2) failing to object to allegedly duplicative/prejudicial photographs, and (3) failing to further investigate State experts.
Court affirmed felony murder conviction and sentence, held evidence was sufficient, rejected Strickland claims, but vacated the separate child‑cruelty conviction/sentence because that offense was the predicate for felony murder and should merge for sentencing.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence for convictions	Davis did not dispute sufficiency	State: medical and scene evidence supported convictions	Evidence sufficient to support felony murder and child cruelty convictions (affirmed as to guilt)
Merger of child‑cruelty conviction with felony murder	N/A (appellant convicted)	State: separate convictions valid	Child cruelty was predicate offense and should merge with felony murder for sentencing; child‑cruelty conviction vacated
Counsel ineffective for not invoking sequestration (recorded defense expert)	Failure prejudiced Davis because rebuttal expert heard recorded testimony	State: court properly exercised discretion to allow rebuttal expert to review recording; expert needed to rebut; rule not automatically invoked for experts	No deficient performance or prejudice; trial court did not abuse discretion in permitting rebuttal expert to review recorded testimony
Counsel ineffective for failing to object to photos and to further investigate State experts	Photographs were cumulative/prejudicial; counsel failed to research experts	State: most photos were relevant and admissible; counsel reasonably declined meritless objections; no showing further research would have changed outcome	No Strickland prejudice; only three hospital photos arguably irrelevant but their admission was harmless given their limited use and strong other evidence

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (review of sufficiency of evidence standard) (1979)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (ineffective assistance standard) (1984)
Harrington v. Richter, 562 U.S. 86 (prejudice standard clarifications) (2011)
Nazario v. State, 293 Ga. 480 (merger of predicate offense with felony murder) (2013)
Higuera‑Hernandez v. State, 289 Ga. 553 (merger principle applied) (2011)
Miller v. Universal City Studios, 650 F.2d 1365 (sequestration rule purpose and expert exceptions) (5th Cir. 1981)
Opus 3 Ltd. v. Heritage Park, 91 F.3d 625 (trial court discretion on sequestration exceptions) (4th Cir. 1996)
Old Chief v. United States, 519 U.S. 172 (probative value vs. unfair prejudice analysis) (1997)
Dailey v. State, 297 Ga. 442 (admissibility of autopsy photos explained) (2015)
Moss v. State, 298 Ga. 613 (pre‑incision autopsy/hospital photo admissibility under § 24‑4‑403) (2016)