Parks v. State, 300 Ga. 303

On Sept. 16, 2013, Harold Parks got into an argument over a parking space; a short altercation occurred and gunfire followed, killing Terrence Washington. Parks later admitted he fired the weapon and fled.
Crime scene: 9mm casings showed at least 18 rounds fired; medical examiner found 29 gunshot wounds and testified some shots were fired from more than three feet away and after the victim was on the ground. No weapon was recovered on the victim.
Parks claimed justification/self-defense at trial, testifying he wrested a gun from Washington and it discharged; he also admitted the victim was unarmed when he fired and that he fled after shooting.
Parks was indicted on malice murder, two counts of felony murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during a felony; convicted on all counts and sentenced to life without parole plus a consecutive five years.
On appeal Parks challenged sufficiency of the evidence, admission of a 1990 aggravated-assault conviction under OCGA § 24-4-404(b), admission of other prior convictions opened by his testimony, limits on cross-examining the medical examiner, denial of counsel’s motion to withdraw, and alleged ineffective assistance of counsel.

Issue	Parks' Argument	State's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence	Evidence insufficient to support murder conviction	Evidence (admissions, casings, wounds) proved guilt beyond a reasonable doubt	Affirmed: evidence sufficient; jury could reject self-defense
Admission of 1990 aggravated-assault conviction (404(b))	Admission was improper propensity evidence unrelated to any legitimate purpose	Evidence relevant to intent, identity, knowledge, absence of mistake; probative value outweighed prejudice	Error to admit, but harmless given overwhelming evidence of guilt
Admission of other convictions after Parks' testimony	Trial counsel’s question did not open door to prior felonies	Parks’ testimony invited cross-examination about subsequent convictions; thus admissible	Not an abuse of discretion to admit those convictions on cross-examination
Limitation on cross-examining medical examiner	Court improperly curtailed probing why ME left employment	Objection was on relevancy; trial counsel did not proffer prejudice	Issue not preserved; no plain-error prejudice shown; claim fails

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (establishes sufficiency-of-evidence standard)
Bradford v. State, 299 Ga. 880 (affirmative: jury may reject self-defense)
Brannon v. State, 298 Ga. 601 (adopts Eleventh Circuit three-part 404(b) test; OCGA § 24-4-404(b) analysis)
Brooks v. State, 298 Ga. 722 (limits on using prior acts to prove identity; need for strong similarities)
United States v. Commanche, 577 F.3d 1261 (prior remote assault inadmissible where only shows propensity when defendant admits the act)
United States v. Sanders, 964 F.2d 295 (propensity inference caution under Rule 404(b))
Yusem v. People, 210 P.3d 458 (prior act inference indistinguishable from propensity; inadmissible for self-defense dispute)
United States v. Hosford, 782 F.2d 936 (erroneous 404(b) admission harmless if guilt overwhelming)
Pruitt v. State, 282 Ga. 30 (Strickland standard summary for ineffective assistance)
Wright v. State, 291 Ga. 869 (failure on one Strickland prong obviates need to address the other)
Washington v. State, 294 Ga. 560 (strategic cross-examination choices generally not deficient)
Brown v. State, 292 Ga. 454 (decision to present or not present expert is strategic)