Muckle v. State, 302 Ga. 675

Malcolm Muckle was convicted of felony murder (based on attempted armed robbery) for the death of Travis Callaway and sentenced to life; co-defendants pled guilty and did not testify at trial.
Evidence showed Muckle and Callaway rented a Dodge Avenger together the day before; both their fingerprints were in the rental car found at the scene.
Victim Desmond ("Bipolar") Latimore testified he was approached and accosted by masked assailants; Latimore exchanged gunfire and believed he had shot someone; Callaway was later found dead in the breezeway with a gun in his hand and a fatal shot to the back of the head.
Muckle gave out-of-court statements to Yearby and to Callaway’s brother Tavarius (one recorded) admitting he, Hill, and Callaway went to rob Latimore, that Callaway was armed, that they positioned themselves, and that gunfire occurred in the breezeway — facts not yet public.
Muckle did not testify; his defense was that he was merely present and did not participate; he later argued on appeal insufficiency of evidence and ineffective assistance for failure to subpoena Hill.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Muckle)	Defendant's Argument (State)	Held
Sufficiency of evidence to convict as party to felony murder	Evidence was circumstantial and did not exclude reasonable hypothesis that Muckle was merely present or that Hill was the shooter	Muckle made inculpatory admissions (a confession) corroborated by physical and testimonial evidence showing participation and intent to rob	Court held evidence — including Muckle's confession plus corroboration (car rental, fingerprints, matching location, witness accounts) — was sufficient under OCGA and Jackson v. Virginia; conviction affirmed
Ineffective assistance for not subpoenaing Hill	Trial counsel unreasonably failed to call Hill, who would have testified he did not see Muckle that night, prejudicing the defense	Counsel made a reasonable tactical decision: Hill’s testimony conflicted with Muckle’s own statements, Hill had credibility problems (criminal history, tattoos), and calling him could harm defense	Court held counsel’s decision was reasonable trial strategy under Strickland and Watkins; no ineffective assistance

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (constitutional sufficiency standard for criminal convictions)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (ineffective-assistance standard requiring deficient performance and prejudice)
Flournoy v. State, 294 Ga. 741 (party liability: aiding or abetting)
Merritt v. State, 292 Ga. 327 (confession as direct evidence; not purely circumstantial)
Graham v. State, 301 Ga. 675 (confession corroboration requirement)
Norman v. State, 298 Ga. 344 (corroboration of confession may be any form of evidence)
Watkins v. State, 285 Ga. 355 (calling witnesses is trial strategy; tactical choices generally not ineffective assistance)
Sapp v. State, 300 Ga. 768 (presence, companionship, and conduct can support inference of criminal intent)
Shepard v. State, 300 Ga. 167 (party liability principles)
Vega v. State, 285 Ga. 32 (jury resolves credibility conflicts)