McDuffie v. State, 298 Ga. 112

Victim Jurrell Clarke confronted Eugene McDuffie on Aug. 18, 2004, accusing McDuffie’s father of stealing cocaine; an argument ensued and McDuffie fired a 9mm, killing Clarke.
Multiple eyewitnesses (Southerland, Crisp, Clarke’s nephew and nephew’s friend) testified they saw McDuffie shoot Clarke; shell casings and bullets from the same 9mm were recovered; the gun was later disposed of by others.
McDuffie was tried May 2006, convicted of malice murder and sentenced to life; appellate proceedings included a remand for an ineffective-assistance evidentiary hearing and eventual out-of-time appeal in 2015.
At the new-trial hearing, trial counsel explained strategic choices: not calling the GBI agent (potentially harmful to defense), not compelling an incoherent witness (Walker), and advising McDuffie of his right to testify (court also personally confirmed waiver).
McDuffie argued ineffective assistance (failure to call Agent Barron, failure to compel Walker, failure to re-advise right to testify) and that prosecutor’s closing remarks were improper; the State argued counsel’s choices were reasonable trial strategy and the closing-argument claim was unpreserved.
The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed: evidence was sufficient, counsel’s tactical decisions were not deficient nor prejudicial under Strickland, and the prosecutorial-argument claim was waived for lack of contemporaneous objection.

Issue	Appellant's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence	Evidence insufficient to prove McDuffie was shooter	Eyewitness IDs and physical evidence support conviction	Conviction affirmed; evidence sufficient under Jackson v. Virginia
Ineffective assistance — failure to call GBI agent	Counsel should have called Agent Barron to impeach witnesses and show McDuffie wasn’t present	Counsel’s choice was reasonable strategy; agent’s testimony could have hurt defense; eyewitness IDs dispositive	No deficient performance or prejudice; claim fails under Strickland
Ineffective assistance — failure to compel Walker	Walker would have testified Southerland, not McDuffie, was shooter; counsel should have compelled her	Walker was incoherent and fearful; compelling her likely harmful and unpredictable	Strategic decision reasonable; appellant failed to prove what Walker would have testified to or resulting prejudice
Right to testify / re-advisal	Counsel should have re-advised McDuffie of right to testify after other tactical decisions	McDuffie was advised and the court personally confirmed his waiver; no duty to repeatedly re-advise	No deficient performance; waiver valid and no prejudice shown
Prosecutorial misconduct in closing	Prosecutor’s remarks deprived McDuffie of due process	No contemporaneous objection at trial; issue not preserved	Claim unpreserved on appeal; not reviewed

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979) (standard for sufficiency of the evidence review)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) (two-prong test for ineffective assistance of counsel)
Vega v. State, 285 Ga. 32 (2009) (deference to jury credibility determinations)
Long v. State, 287 Ga. 886 (2010) (applying Strickland in Georgia context)
Young v. State, 292 Ga. 443 (2013) (noting heavy burden to prove ineffective assistance)
Miller v. State, 296 Ga. 9 (2014) (strategic witness decisions are generally not deficient)
Manriquez v. State, 285 Ga. 880 (2009) (defendant must present witness testimony at hearing or admissible substitute to show prejudice)
Thomas v. State, 282 Ga. 894 (2008) (no duty to repeatedly re-advise defendant of right to testify)
Turpin v. Curtis, 278 Ga. 698 (2004) (discussing prejudice requirement for ineffective-assistance claims)
Powell v. State, 291 Ga. 743 (2012) (failure to contemporaneously object to closing argument forfeits appellate review)