Moore v. State, 294 Ga. 450

Moore was convicted by a jury of felony murder and related offenses for the shooting death of Brandon Thomas.
The underlying events began when Moore allegedly failed to pay a loan on his 2004 Mustang, prompting repossession attempts by Thackston and Thomas at Moore's home.
During the confrontation, Moore fired a shot, shot at the tow truck, and later shot into the cab of the tow truck, killing Thomas and wounding Thackston.
Moore fled in a van, was later apprehended after a car chase and foot pursuit; the evidence supported the guilty verdicts beyond a reasonable doubt.
Moore challenged the denial of a mistrial due to unredacted references to a prior guilty plea found on page 115 of the police interview transcript; curative instructions were provided to affected jurors.
Moore asserted ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to remove references to the prior guilty plea and for not timely moving for a mistrial; the court denied relief.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether evidence supported the convictions	State asserts sufficient evidence supported the verdicts	Moore contends the evidence is insufficient to sustain the verdicts	Evidence sufficient to sustain all convictions
Whether the mistrial was required due to unredacted references	State argues waivers and curative instructions rendered mistrial unnecessary	Moore argues mistrial was required due to prejudice from unredacted content	Mistrial not required; curative instructions sufficed and jurors were properly guided
Whether trial counsel was ineffective for failing to remove references and timely move for mistrial	State contends no ineffective assistance given preservation and cure	Moore contends counsel failed to remove references and timely seek mistrial	No ineffective assistance shown; conduct did not prejudice outcome

Gardner v. State, 273 Ga. 809 (2001) (curative instructions after mention of prior crime; new trial not essential)
Johns v. State, 274 Ga. 23 (2001) (courts presume jurors follow instructions; prejudice mitigated)
Culler v. State, 277 Ga. 717 (2004) (contemporaneous objection requirement and waiver principles)
Grant v. State, 278 Ga. 536 (2004) (curative instructions and preservation; no automatic mistrial necessary)
Billings v. State, 293 Ga. 99 (2013) (ineffective assistance standard in Georgia)
Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979) (sufficiency of evidence standard in criminal convictions)