Gardner v. State, 310 Ga. 515

On June 11, 1995, Reggie Gardner shot Franklin Wright after an apparent traffic near-collision; Wright approached Gardner’s car, threw down his bicycle, shouted threats, lifted his shirt to show no weapon, and witnesses heard gunshots as Gardner fired from the car. Wright died from a single bullet; a GBI expert tied the bullet to Gardner’s gun.
Gardner gave a recorded statement admitting he shot Wright after being threatened and after Wright and others advanced toward him; he did not testify at trial.
A Ware County jury convicted Gardner of felony murder (aggravated assault as the predicate) and related weapon offenses; the trial court sentenced him to life plus additional terms.
Gardner moved for a new trial, arguing trial counsel was ineffective for failing to request a jury instruction on voluntary manslaughter as a lesser included offense of murder.
At the new-trial hearing trial counsel testified he investigated the case, consulted with Gardner, believed the evidence supported a self-defense (justification) theory, and deliberately pursued an "all-or-nothing" strategy rather than request a voluntary manslaughter charge.
The trial court denied the motion; the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed, holding counsel’s strategy was reasonable and the evidence did not support the irresistible-passion/serious-provocation element required for voluntary manslaughter.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective for not requesting a voluntary manslaughter instruction	Gardner: counsel was deficient and prejudicially so because a reasonable attorney would have requested the lesser charge given the evidence	State: counsel reasonably pursued an all-or-nothing self-defense strategy; there was little or no evidence of the serious provocation/irresistible passion required for voluntary manslaughter	Court: No ineffective assistance. Strategy permissible; insufficient evidence of provocation/passion to warrant the instruction; denial of new trial affirmed

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (U.S. 1979) (standard for sufficiency of the evidence review)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (U.S. 1984) (two-part ineffective-assistance-of-counsel test)
Velasco v. State, 306 Ga. 888 (Ga. 2019) (pursuit of an all-or-nothing defense is a permissible trial strategy)
Blackwell v. State, 302 Ga. 820 (Ga. 2018) (declining lesser-included instruction to preserve a justification defense can be reasonable)
Newman v. State, 305 Ga. 792 (Ga. 2019) (slight evidence is sufficient to authorize a jury instruction)
Ngumezi v. State, 300 Ga. 764 (Ga. 2017) (distinguishing provocation standard for voluntary manslaughter from self-defense)
Williams v. State, 306 Ga. 717 (Ga. 2019) (evidence of repelling an attack does not necessarily show irresistible passion)
Davis v. State, 299 Ga. 180 (Ga. 2016) (standards for assessing counsel performance in Georgia)
Reed v. State, 294 Ga. 877 (Ga. 2014) (trial tactics are protected unless patently unreasonable)
Humphrey v. Nance, 293 Ga. 189 (Ga. 2013) (defendant bears burden to overcome presumption of reasonable counsel)