Ivey v. State, 305 Ga. 156

On Aug 2, 2015, Franklin Jones was shot dead in the hallway outside his Hyatt Place hotel room; Ivey admitted firing a .380 pistol at close range (6–12 inches).
Ivey and Jones had been drinking together earlier; witnesses differed on whether they were arguing.
Ivey initially told police he shot because he thought Jones was reaching for a weapon; at trial he claimed self-defense after Jones charged him.
Key witnesses (hotel clerk, Jones’s fiancée) testified inconsistently with Ivey’s trial account (e.g., no observed angry confrontation; no sighting of other men/women Ivey described).
Ivey was convicted of felony murder (predicated on aggravated assault), aggravated assault (merged), and possession of a firearm during a felony; sentenced to life.
On appeal Ivey challenged sufficiency of the evidence and raised multiple ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claims; the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed.

Issue	Ivey's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence / self-defense	Ivey claimed his trial testimony showed Jones was the aggressor and he acted in self-defense.	Jury credited contrary evidence and inconsistencies in Ivey’s accounts; credibility is for the jury.	Evidence sufficient; conviction upheld.
Ineffective assistance — failure to object to prosecutor saying Ivey was on pain meds + alcohol	Counsel should have objected; no evidence Ivey took meds that night.	Evidence showed prior prescription/use and obvious intoxication; jury instructed closing arguments are not evidence; no prejudice.	No prejudice; claim fails.
Ineffective assistance — prosecutor allegedly shifted burden by mentioning subpoenas for third parties	Ivey argued burden was shifted to him to produce witnesses.	Claim was not preserved for appeal (not raised by new counsel in motion for new trial).	Unpreserved; not reviewed on appeal.
Ineffective assistance — failure to call toxicologist (BAC .217)	Calling expert would corroborate victim’s intoxication/aggression and support self-defense.	Toxicology admissible only if proffered evidence links intoxication to behavior; no such proffer was made and other testimony already showed heavy drinking.	No prejudice shown; claim fails.

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (standard for reviewing sufficiency of the evidence)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (two-prong test for ineffective assistance)
Terrell v. State, 304 Ga. 183 (credibility and self-defense are jury questions)
Starks v. State, 304 Ga. 308 (closing-argument comments and jury instruction weight)
Mondragon v. State, 304 Ga. 843 (toxicology evidence admissible only with proffer linking intoxication to behavior)
Gill v. State, 296 Ga. 351 (same principle on intoxication evidence)
Hightower v. State, 304 Ga. 755 (meritless objections and counsel performance)
Barrett v. State, 292 Ga. 160 (cumulative-effect analysis for multiple deficiencies)