Norwood v. State, 297 Ga. 226

On Jan. 18, 2009, Norwood and co-defendants arranged a supposed drug deal with victims Prak and Patel intending to rob them; Lucas acted as lookout, Norwood and Allen initiated a fight.
Allen chased and shot both victims; he shot Prak in the head (killing him) and shot Patel in the neck.
After Allen shot Patel, Norwood stabbed Patel multiple times; Patel later died, and the medical examiner attributed death to Allen’s gunshot to the neck, not Norwood’s stab wounds.
Norwood was indicted on multiple counts including felony murder and aggravated assault; after a jury trial he was convicted of several counts, including felony murder (based on shooting-related aggravated assault) and aggravated assault (for stabbing Patel).
Norwood filed a motion for new trial and appealed, arguing ineffective assistance of counsel (failure to object to a co-defendant’s confession on Confrontation Clause/Bruton grounds) and that the trial court erred by failing to merge the aggravated assault (stabbing) with the felony murder (shooting) for sentencing.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Norwood)	Defendant's Argument (State)	Held
Whether counsel was ineffective for not objecting to admission of Lucas’s confession under Bruton	Trial counsel failed to object to Lucas’s out-of-court confession, violating Confrontation Clause and prejudicing the defense	Counsel did join a Bruton motion; Lucas’s videotaped confession was not played; testimony mentioning Lucas did not reference Norwood; limiting instruction was given	Norwood failed Strickland: counsel did object and admitted evidence was admissible; claim denied
Whether aggravated assault (stabbing) must merge with felony murder (shooting) for sentencing	Aggravated assault based on stabbing should merge with felony murder based on the same victim’s death	The stabbing and the shooting were separate acts with different instrumentalities; each offense requires proof of a fact the other does not	No merger; convictions properly distinct for sentencing

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979) (standard for sufficiency of the evidence review)
Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123 (1968) (co-defendant confession implicating another defendant may violate Confrontation Clause)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) (two-prong ineffective assistance of counsel test)
Hanifa v. State, 269 Ga. 797 (1998) (co-defendant statements that do not name defendant and are limited to confessor meet Confrontation Clause standard)
Drinkard v. Walker, 281 Ga. 211 (2006) (required-evidence test for merger of offenses)
Starks v. State, 283 Ga. 164 (2008) (nonfatal separate attack need not merge with murder conviction)
Wright v. State, 291 Ga. 869 (2012) (standard for reviewing ineffective assistance claims)
Robinson v. State, 277 Ga. 75 (2003) (appellate review defers to trial court factual findings)
Fuller v. State, 277 Ga. 505 (2004) (Strickland discussion on appellate review)