Mann v. State, 297 Ga. 107

Mann was convicted after a jury trial of felony murder and aggravated assault for the shooting death of Dennis Bennett; sentenced to life imprisonment on felony murder with the aggravated assault merged on sentencing.
The incident occurred January 26, 2000, when Bennett and Gravitt went to a bar; Bennett later drove to the Leila Valley Apartments seeking marijuana; Mann and Smith approached Bennett's truck and gunshots occurred, after which Mann fled.
Fingerprints and eyewitnesses placed Mann at or near the crime scene; Tamara Johnson saw Mann by the driver's side of the truck and Gweenda Ward saw Mann approach the driver’s side and heard gunshots.
The defense challenged the sufficiency of the evidence and challenged the jury instruction on parties to a crime; the State maintained Mann was guilty as a party to the crimes charged.
Mann sought suppression of a post-arrest statement in which he claimed not to be at the scene; interrogation continued after a purported invocation of counsel.
Mann also asserted ineffective assistance of counsel for (i) not objecting to the party-instruction and (ii) not objecting to testimony and closing arguments regarding Bennett’s fatherhood.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence to convict as a party	Mann argues the evidence failed to prove he was a party to the crimes.	State asserts Mann was a party to the crimes and the evidence supports that.	Evidence sufficient; Mann guilty as party to the crimes.
Jury instruction on parties to a crime	Mann contends the instruction violated due process by permitting conviction as a party.	State contends OCGA § 16-2-21 allows party liability without separate indictment.	No error in instructing on parties to a crime.
Post-arrest statement and invocation of counsel	Mann argues he invoked his right to counsel and questioning should have stopped.	State contends the invocation was ambiguous and questions continued; statement admissible.	Ambiguous invocation; any error harmless due to repeat statement at trial.
Ineffective assistance—failure to object to party instruction	Mann claims counsel should have objected to the party instruction.	State asserts objection would have been meritless if instruction proper.	No deficient performance; instruction was proper.
Ineffective assistance—references to Bennett's fatherhood	Mann argues references to Bennett having a son inflamed the jury.	Counsel Strategic; not objecting was reasonable to avoid attacking the victim.	Counsel's strategy reasonable; not ineffective.

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (U.S. 1979) (sufficiency of evidence standard)
OCGA v. Brinson, 261 Ga. 884 (Ga. 1992) (party liability without separate indictment)
Willis v. State, 287 Ga. 703 (Ga. 2010) (counseling invocation clarity; custodial interrogation guidance)
Webb v. State, 284 Ga. 122 (Ga. 2008) (harmless-error when testimony corroborates)
Durden v. State, 293 Ga. 89 (Ga. 2013) (ineffective-assistance analysis—merits of objections)
Romer v. State, 293 Ga. 339 (Ga. 2013) (trial strategy and reasonableness standard)