Lewis v. State, 298 Ga. 889

Victim Ophir Thompson was beaten and shot to death during a February 11, 2012 home invasion; multiple firearms and cash were stolen from a safe. Eyewitnesses saw Ronnie Duane Lewis enter the home armed and break a window; another eyewitness saw him inside with a rifle. Lewis had rented a second house on the property.
Lewis and an accomplice, Mickey Mulder, bound and assaulted Thompson, forced open a safe, and shot him; Lewis later displayed the stolen money and admitted to a friend that he killed Thompson (claiming self-defense).
Lewis gave two custodial interviews to police on February 12, 2012 (one early-morning interview of ~30 minutes that was stopped, and a second interview about 12 hours later); he signed Miranda waivers and confessed to striking Thompson repeatedly with a gun.
Trial: indicted May 21, 2013; jury convicted on all counts (malice murder, armed robbery, burglary, false imprisonment, aggravated assault) after a November 4–7, 2013 trial; sentenced to life without parole plus consecutive terms.
Post-trial/Jackson-Denno: Lewis moved to suppress the first two custodial statements as involuntary because he was under the influence of drugs; he also claimed ineffective assistance for counsel’s failure to request a corroboration instruction. The trial court denied relief; the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed.

Issue	Lewis' Argument	State's Argument	Held
Admissibility of custodial statements (voluntariness/intoxication)	Statements inadmissible because Lewis was high on meth and lacked capacity to waive Miranda	Videotapes and investigator testimony show Lewis understood Miranda, knowingly waived, was coherent, and statements were voluntary	Denial of suppression affirmed; statements admissible
Ineffective assistance for failing to request corroboration instruction (OCGA § 24‑8‑823)	Counsel deficient for not requesting instruction that a confession must be corroborated	Even if deficient, overwhelming independent evidence of guilt means no prejudice	Claim fails for lack of prejudice; conviction stands
Sufficiency of the evidence / claim of self‑defense	Lewis claimed he acted in self‑defense, arguing evidence insufficient	Eyewitnesses, confession, possession/display of stolen guns/money, and other admissions support guilt	Convictions supported beyond a reasonable doubt; self‑defense rejected by jury

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (standard for reviewing sufficiency of evidence)
Roper v. State, 281 Ga. 878 (credibility and justification/self‑defense for jury to decide)
Jones v. State, 285 Ga. 328 (intoxication does not automatically render statements inadmissible)
Watkins v. State, 289 Ga. 359 (trial court determines admissibility under preponderance standard; appellate review described)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (ineffective assistance two‑prong test)
Wright v. State, 291 Ga. 869 (standards for reviewing ineffectiveness claims)
Landers v. State, 270 Ga. 189 (corroboration/confession principles and sufficiency context)