Harmon v. State, 319 Ga. 259

Shanadore Harmon and Jermaz Lawson argued at a club and later at a residence, culminating in Harmon shooting into a car driven by Lawson, fatally wounding Brittany Trantham, the passenger.
Harmon was convicted of malice murder (Trantham), aggravated assault (Lawson), and multiple firearms offenses.
The trial included testimony from eyewitnesses who saw Harmon with a gun and forensic evidence linking the recovered firearm to the bullets used in the shooting.
Harmon filed a motion for a new trial, alleging insufficient evidence and ineffective assistance of counsel over a hearsay objection not being raised.
The trial court denied the new trial motion, and Harmon timely appealed to the Supreme Court of Georgia.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence for murder/firearm offenses	Evidence did not show Harmon fired fatal shot	Multiple witnesses saw Harmon with gun and heard gunshots	Evidence sufficient to affirm convictions
Directed verdict on aggravated assault/firearm	No evidence Lawson feared being shot	Gunshots after seeing Harmon with gun is sufficient for apprehension	Motion for directed verdict properly denied
Ineffective assistance: Hearsay objection	Counsel failed to object to Lawson’s police statement	Even without the statement, evidence was overwhelming	No prejudice; claim rejected

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) (establishing the standard for ineffective assistance of counsel claims)
Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979) (standard for reviewing sufficiency of the evidence in criminal cases)
Smith v. State, 315 Ga. 357 (2022) (doctrine of transferred intent in homicide prosecutions)
Hill v. State, 276 Ga. 220 (2003) (sufficiency of evidence for firearm possession during commission of felony)
Walker v. State, 281 Ga. 157 (2006) (firearm possession by convicted felon)
Pyatt v. State, 298 Ga. 742 (2016) (aggravated assault by shooting into a vehicle)