Green v. State, 302 Ga. 816

On July 30, 2008, Barry Bullard was shot and later died after an altercation involving Neddrick Green, Allen Williams, and Jeremy Reynolds, Jr.; Reynolds fired the fatal shot after Green and Williams had punched the victim.
Green was indicted for malice murder, tried jointly with Reynolds and Williams (Reynolds also faced a separate cocaine-possession charge), convicted by a jury in November 2010, and sentenced to life.
Green did not challenge sufficiency of the evidence on appeal; the Court found the evidence sufficient to convict him as a party to malice murder.
Green raised an ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim, arguing trial counsel should have requested jury instructions on mutual combat or self-defense and should have sought severance from Reynolds’s trial.
The trial court record showed no evidence authorizing mutual combat or self-defense instructions, and no showing that joinder prejudiced Green or that severance would have excluded incriminating evidence.
Trial counsel was deceased at the motion-for-new-trial hearing; the Court applied the presumption that counsel’s strategic decisions are sound unless overcome by evidence to the contrary.

Issue	Green's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Whether counsel was ineffective for not requesting mutual combat or self-defense jury instructions	Counsel should have requested mutual combat or self-defense charges because there was evidence of exchanged gunfire, the victim had a gun, and there was blood and damage to a building	No evidence supported those justification charges; the record showed the victim did not intend to fight Green and only fired after being shot	Denied — no deficient performance because charges were not supported by the evidence; no ineffective assistance
Whether counsel was ineffective for failing to move to sever Green’s trial from Reynolds’s	Joinder was prejudicial because the case against Reynolds (including possession of cocaine and being the shooter) was stronger and risked spillover	Strategic choice not to seek severance; stronger case against one defendant alone does not require severance, and Green failed to show prejudice or that evidence against Reynolds would have been excluded	Denied — counsel’s decision presumed strategic; even if motion had been made severance likely would have been denied because no prejudice shown

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (establishes sufficiency-of-the-evidence standard)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (two-prong test for ineffective assistance of counsel)
Hicks v. State, 287 Ga. 260 (justification charge requires supportive evidence)
Johnson v. State, 300 Ga. 665 (mutual combat requires evidence of mutual intent or agreement to fight)
Carruth v. State, 290 Ga. 342 (mutual combat not authorized where evidence shows unprovoked fight or ambush)
Lupoe v. State, 300 Ga. 233 (decision to seek severance is trial strategy; presumed reasonable)
Moon v. State, 288 Ga. 508 (stronger case against co-defendant does not mandate severance)
Butler v. State, 290 Ga. 412 (joinder proper where common scheme or plan is shown)
Billings v. State, 293 Ga. 99 (instructions limiting evidence to a particular defendant)
Adkins v. State, 279 Ga. 424 (defendant must show prejudice from denial of severance)