Gadson v. State, 289 Ga. 117

Gadson was convicted of malice murder, felony murder and related charges for the October 11, 2005 killing of Amady Seydi.
Seydi and his girlfriend Medsker lived in the same complex as Gadson and his brother Joseph; Gadson previously threatened Seydi with a weapon and took Seydi's gun and Medsker's phone during a burglary investigation.
On the night of the murder, Gadson and Joseph allegedly confronted Seydi and Medsker; Medsker answered the door to a man she believed was an acquaintance, followed by Gadson and Joseph, who held Medsker at gunpoint while Gadson searched for Seydi, who was shot nine times and died.
Police recovered Medsker's phone, burglary items, cocaine, marijuana, and stocking masks at Gadson's apartment.
Eyewitness Medsker identified Gadson at trial and to law enforcement; the jury weighed credibility and resolved conflicts in the evidence.
Gadson challenged the sufficiency of the evidence, jury instructions (eyewitness certainty), effectiveness of trial counsel, and the trial court's instructions on a merged burglary conviction.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Was the evidence sufficient to support the convictions?	Gadson asserts insufficiency of eyewitness and corpus evidence.	State contends the evidence, viewed favorably to the verdict, suffices.	Sufficient evidence supported the verdict.
Harmlessness of eyewitness certainty instruction?	Gadson argues error from the eyewitness certainty instruction.	State maintains error was harmless since eyewitness knew Gadson beforehand.	Harmless error; no reversal required.
Ineffective assistance for failing to object to certainty instruction and other claims?	Gadson claims trial counsel was ineffective in three respects.	State argues no prejudice or deficient performance established.	No reversible ineffectiveness found.
Effect of jury instruction on burglary merge and sentencing?	Gadson contends instruction error on burglary-with-intent-to commit a felony.	State argues any error was harmless due to merger by operation of law.	No harm shown; proper merger rendered the instruction inconsequential.

Vega v. State, 285 Ga. 32 (2009) (credibility and conflicts resolved by jury; corroboration considerations)
Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979) (sufficiency of evidence standard for reasonable doubt)
Jones v. State, 282 Ga. 306 (2007) (harmlessness of certain instructional errors when preexisting familiarity exists)
Mezick v. State, 291 Ga. App. 257 (2008) (harm from instructional error regarding merged offenses)
Malcolm v. State, 263 Ga. 369 (1993) (merger rule for burglary convictions and related offenses)
Jennings v. State, 288 Ga. 120 (2010) (requirements for proving prejudice in eyewitness identification expert testimony)
Jones v. State, 288 Ga. 431 (2011) (prejudice and performance analysis in ineffective assistance claims)