Dunn v. State, 291 Ga. 551

Dunn was convicted of malice murder, firearm possession during a crime, and five counts of felony obstruction for the November 11, 2000 shooting death of Ramon Smith.
At the scene, a crashed vehicle contained the victim dead with six gunshot wounds; Dunn was found with blood and victim’s DNA on a gun in the vehicle.
Dunn admitted to an inmate that he killed the victim after ingesting “bad cocaine” and claimed the victim was disrespectful; he also struggled with officers at the scene and in jail.
DNA on the gun and shell casings matched Dunn; he was later observed by officers with a hand injury and gunpowder residue consistent with firing a gun.
A jail nurse testified about Dunn’s statements and medical records; the State introduced other evidence linking Dunn to the crime, including his admissions and physical evidence.
Dunn litigated ineffective-assistance claims at a motion-for-new-trial stage; the trial court denied relief and the appeal followed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of the evidence	Dunn argues the evidence does not prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.	State contends the record supports a rational finding of guilt.	Evidence sufficient to support guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Privacy violation and admissibility of nurse’s testimony	Georgia privacy guarantees preclude nurse testimony about Dunn’s statements derived from medical records.	State asserts the error, if any, is harmless given overwhelming evidence.	Harmless beyond a reasonable doubt; overwhelming evidence sustains the conviction.
Admissibility of Detective Ricketts’ head-injury testimony	Detective’s lay opinion about head injury evidence was improper without proper foundation/notice.	Testimony was based on personal observation and permissible lay opinion.	Admissible lay observations about defendant’s behavior and condition; no trial error.
Ineffective assistance of counsel	Counsel’s failures to redact drug-use references and to object to certain testimony prejudiced Dunn.	Dunn failed to show reasonable probability of different outcome or preservation for some arguments.	No ineffective-assistance error established; some claims not preserved or not shown to meet Strickland prongs.

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979) (sufficiency review standard for criminal conviction)
Hatley v. State, 290 Ga. 480, 722 S.E.2d 67 (2012) (overwhelming evidence can uphold verdict despite constitutional error)
Vaughn v. State, 248 Ga. 127, 281 S.E.2d 594 (1981) (overwhelming evidence can negate contributory effect of error)
Simmons v. State, 281 Ga. 437, 637 S.E.2d 709 (2006) (preservation and waiver principles for ineffective assistance claims)
Smith v. State, 290 Ga. 428, 721 S.E.2d 892 (2012) (lay opinion admissibility by witnesses observing defendant)
Bridges v. State, 279 Ga. 351, 613 S.E.2d 621 (2005) (lay witness observations and permissible opinions)
Maldonado v. State, 313 Ga. App. 511, 722 S.E.2d 123 (2012) (officer statements regarding willingness to obtain statements admissible)