Hinton v. State, 304 Ga. 605

In May 2013 Hinton and an accomplice ambushed Henry Reeves outside his home; Reeves was killed by a gunshot to the chest. Hinton was shot in the back during the incident and later treated at a hospital.\
Evidence showed Hinton planned to rob Reeves, armed himself, texted he was "lurkn" (lying in wait), told friends of the plan, and initially lied to police about being at the scene.\
Hinton was indicted on malice murder, two counts of felony murder (predicated on aggravated assault and on attempted armed robbery), aggravated assault, attempted armed robbery, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.\
A jury acquitted Hinton of malice murder but convicted him of the remaining counts; the trial court sentenced him to life for felony murder predicated on aggravated assault, consecutive 30 years for attempted armed robbery, and consecutive 5 years for the weapons count.\
At trial counsel requested a voluntary manslaughter instruction and the court denied it; counsel did not renew the request after the court charged the jury. Hinton argued ineffective assistance for that failure.\
Hinton also challenged sentencing, arguing certain counts should merge because the convictions arose from a single transaction.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether counsel was ineffective for failing to renew a request for a voluntary manslaughter jury instruction	Hinton: counsel was deficient for not preserving the denied instruction for appeal	State: any alleged deficiency was not prejudicial because evidence of voluntary manslaughter was minimal vs strong evidence of felony murder predicates	Court: assumed deficiency but found no Strickland prejudice — no reasonable probability jury would have convicted of voluntary manslaughter instead of felony murder
Whether the trial court erred by not merging aggravated assault into attempted armed robbery before sentencing	Hinton: sentences should have merged because offenses arose from single transaction	State: trial court has discretion to choose which felony murder verdict to vacate; non-merging predicates can be separately sentenced	Court: trial court acted within discretion; aggravated assault merged into the felony murder count chosen for sentence, attempted armed robbery did not merge and separate sentence was proper

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (establishes sufficiency-of-the-evidence standard in criminal cases)\
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (ineffective-assistance two‑prong test: deficiency and prejudice)\
Wadley v. State, 258 Ga. 465 (no prejudice where evidence of voluntary manslaughter too weak to create reasonable probability of different verdict)\
Cowart v. State, 294 Ga. 333 (trial court discretion in selecting which felony murder verdict to vacate)\
Davis v. State, 301 Ga. 397 (discusses sentencing and merger implications when multiple felony murders arise from same transaction)\
Flournoy v. State, 294 Ga. 741 (discusses elements distinguishing felony murder predicated on aggravated assault)\
Hill v. State, 281 Ga. 795 (upholding separate sentencing for non-merging predicate offenses after merger of one predicate into sentenced felony murder)\
Fuller v. State, 278 Ga. 812 (no prejudice from counsel's failure to obtain voluntary manslaughter instruction where evidence of guilt was strong)