Merritt v. State, 296 Ga. 98

Merritt was convicted of malice murder, felony murder while in the commission of aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, plus possession of a firearm during the crime of malice murder, for the death of Jerron Jackson.
On July 31, 2011, neighbors heard gunshots; Jackson asked a neighbor to call 911, Merritt later told the neighbor not to call because he was a felon, and a handgun fell from Merritt's pants during a confrontation with Jackson.
A gunshot incident occurred inside Merritt’s mobile home; Timms saw Merritt leave the home and later identified him as the person from whose pants the handgun had fallen.
Deputies set a perimeter around the home; after hours, they entered without a warrant following sounds believed to be moaning, discovering Jackson dead and Merritt distraught on a bed.
Evidence at the scene included unfired bullets, cartridge cases, spent projectiles, marijuana, and a blood test showing marijuana; the fatal shot to Jackson was recovered from the home and matched other projectiles.
Merritt initially claimed sleep, then described a drug-related robbery and murder by others; prior statements indicated involvement in selling marijuana.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of the evidence	Merritt argues the evidence does not support guilt beyond reasonable doubt.	State contends the evidence, including the firearm and murder scene links, supports conviction.	Sufficient evidence supported the convictions.
Ineffective assistance for failure to suppress	Counsel should have moved to suppress the warrantless entry and seized evidence.	Exigent circumstances justified the entry; suppression unlikely to alter result.	No reasonable probability the outcome would differ if suppression had been sought.
Ineffective assistance for not requesting manslaughter charges	Trial counsel should have requested lesser included offenses.	Counsel reasonably pursued a defense aligned with Merritt’s statements; manslaughter charges would be inconsistent.	No error; failure to request manslaughter charges was reasonable given defense theory.

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979) (sufficiency standard for criminal evidence)
Brigham City v. Stuart, 547 U.S. 398 (2006) (emergency warrantless entry exigency exception)
Cardwell v. Lewis, 417 U.S. 583 (1974) (police action may justify warrantless entry in ongoing situations)
Hall v. State, 176 Ga. App. 428 (1985) (appellate considerations on exigent circumstances)
Johnson v. State, 272 Ga. 468 (2000) (exigent circumstances and warrantless entry analysis)
Love v. State, 290 Ga. App. 486 (2008) (exigency supports warrantless entry analysis)
Stringer v. State, 285 Ga. 842 (2009) (motion to suppress evidence—credible findings control)
Williams v. State, 290 Ga. 533 (2012) (standard for ineffective assistance claims and prejudice)