Morey v. State, 312 Ga. App. 678

Claude Morey III and Deandre M. Evans were convicted in Cobb County on counts including aggravated battery, aggravated assault, battery, simple assault, and participating in a criminal street gang for a July 3, 2007 beating outside Six Flags.
Victims Devin Carter, Joshua Martin, and Gerald Martin testified that a large group of 15–20 youths attacked them after leaving the park; Joshua suffered significant injuries and later required extended treatment.
The State relied on testimony from three confessing defendants (Franklin, Forbes, McCoy) who indicated Evans and Morey were part of the group and helped plan or commit the assault; Evans admitted presence near the scene.
The defense challenged admissibility of a prior park incident involving two white families and sought to bar gang references; the trial court allowed the prior incident as res gestae and admitted gang evidence tied to the charged offenses.
Evidence linked the earlier family incident, the park group, and the post-incident beating through common participants, group timing, clothing/gang symbols, and discussions about retaliating against the families.
Defendants challenged venue, sufficiency of corroboration for an accomplice, and alleged ineffective assistance of counsel; the trial court denied mistrial and denied relief on new trial grounds, and the judgments were affirmed on appeal.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Admissibility of res gestae and gang evidence	Res gestae connection and ongoing gang activity justify admission.	Prior incident and gang references prejudice jury and are not properly tied to the crime.	Admissible; res gestae and gang evidence properly admitted.
Sufficiency of evidence to prove venue and participation	Venue shown by witness testimony and proximity; accomplice corroboration sufficient.	Insufficient corroboration for accomplice Forbes and venue challenges.	Venue supported; corroboration adequate; convictions sustained.
Avenue for conviction on multiple weapons (aggravated assault) as to Morey	Morey participated in assault; multiple weapon injuries support separate counts.	Two aggravated assaults on the same victim should merge.	Multiple weapon offenses upheld; no merger required.
Sufficiency of evidence for aggravated battery (brain injury)	Evidence showed substantial loss of brain function and ongoing treatment.	No proof brain loss beyond momentary injuries.	Sufficient evidence of substantial loss of brain function; upheld.
Ineffective assistance of counsel	Counsel failed to object to credibility remarks and failed to investigate alibi witnesses; multiple deficiencies.	Counsel acted within reasonable professional standard, and strategic decisions were sound.	No reversible error; trial counsel not shown deficient performance; conviction affirmed.

Sypho v. State, 175 Ga. App. 833 (1985) (res gestae admissibility requires close temporal relation and relevance)
In the Interest of J. W. B., 296 Ga. App. 131 (2009) (res gestae analysis for related contemporaneous acts)
Johnson v. State, 264 Ga. 456 (1994) (acts forming part or continuation of main transaction admissible as res gestae)
Johnson v. State, 277 Ga. App. 499 (2006) (testimony about gang membership provides context and motive)
Baines v. State, 276 Ga. 117 (2003) (accomplice corroboration standard; slight corroboration suffices)
Clark v. State, 311 Ga. App. 58 (2011) (deficient performance through tactical, not objective ignorance)