Gilyard v. State, 288 Ga. 800

Appellant Torris Gilyard was convicted of crimes related to the March 29, 2004 armed robbery and the death of Terry Crawford in Terrell County.
Co-indictee Kenneth Ponder fatally shot Crawford; a witness testified appellant, with hand in his pocket, took money and drugs after the shooting.
Murder weapon was found about two hundred yards from the scene.
Gilyard accompanied police interviews three times, making statements without counsel and waiving Miranda rights each time.
At trial, Gilyard testified that fear of Ponder and fear of being charged delayed truthful statements.
On appeal, Gilyard challenged sufficiency of evidence and trial counsel’s effectiveness related to cross-examination about pre-arrest silence; the trial court denied relief and the Supreme Court affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of the evidence to convict as a party	Gilyard argues the evidence fails to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.	State contends the evidence properly supports aiding/abetting liability.	Sufficient evidence supported conviction.
Ineffective assistance re: cross-examination on silence	Gilyard asserts trial counsel erred by failing to object to improper silence commentary.	State contends questioning was proper and opened by appellant’s prior statements.	No ineffective assistance; questioning was proper and no prejudice shown.

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1980) (sufficiency standard for psych evidence)
Lucky v. State, 286 Ga. 478 (2010) (sufficiency of evidence, Georgia standard)
Pruitt v. State, 282 Ga. 30 (2007) (ineffective assistance framework; strong presumption of proper conduct)
Stringer v. State, 285 Ga. 842 (2009) (commentary on silence when defendant cooperated)
Dixon v. State, 303 Ga. App. 517 (2010) (cross-examination limitations and silence issues)
McMichen v. State, 265 Ga. 598 (1995) (prosecutor may examine inconsistencies in statements)