Rainwater v. State, 300 Ga. 800

On June 24, 2012 Antavious Maddox was shot and died; Rainwater was later indicted on malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
Three eyewitnesses (Spears, Parham, Holmes) placed Rainwater at the scene; they identified him in photo lineups and two made in-court IDs. Witness testimony described Rainwater running with a gun, standing over the wounded victim, and taking a bag from another man before fleeing.
Rainwater was acquitted of malice murder but convicted of felony murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony; sentenced to life plus five years.
Rainwater disputed presence as sufficient for party liability, claimed the jury was improperly given photographic lineup admonition forms (continuing witness rule), and raised ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to object to the forms.
The trial court allowed the admonition forms to go to the jury (no objection at trial); defense cross-examined a witness about his written statements. During deliberations the jury asked two questions; the court recharged on party-to-a-crime principles but inadvertently omitted the word “not” in one phrase.
The Georgia Supreme Court reviewed (plain error and effectiveness standards) and affirmed, finding sufficient evidence of party liability, no plain error from the exhibits or recharge (viewed in context), and no prejudice from counsel’s alleged deficiencies.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Rainwater)	Defendant's Argument (State)	Held
Sufficiency of the evidence to convict as principal or party	Evidence only showed mere presence; no proof Rainwater fired the shots	Presence, companionship, and conduct before/during/after support inference of criminal intent; eyewitness IDs and cell records place him there	Affirmed: evidence sufficient to support convictions as party to crimes under Jackson standard
Continuing witness rule — jury had photographic lineup admonition forms during deliberations	Allowing forms with handwritten statements to go back violated continuing witness rule and prejudiced outcome	Any violation was harmless; statements were brief, witnesses testified orally, defense cross-examined, and strong independent evidence placed Rainwater at scene	No plain error; no reversal
Ineffective assistance for failing to object to lineup forms	Counsel deficient for not objecting; prejudice resulted	Even if deficient, no reasonable probability of a different outcome given strong evidence	Denied: no prejudice under Strickland
Jury recharge and omission of “not” in pattern charge	Recharge failed to directly answer jury’s firearm-possession question, emphasized party-to-crime principle, and misstated law by omitting “not”	Recharge adequately addressed both questions; taken as whole (and with original correct charge) the slip did not mislead jury	No plain error: recharge correct in substance and omission was a harmless slip of the tongue

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (establishes reasonable-doubt sufficiency standard)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (ineffective-assistance prejudice and performance framework)
Belsar v. State, 276 Ga. 261 (presence/companionship/conduct can establish party liability)
Davis v. State, 285 Ga. 343 (continuing witness rule and types of written testimony barred from jury)
Roberts v. State, 282 Ga. 548 (error in allowing written reports to go out with jury analyzed for prejudice)
Bradford v. State, 299 Ga. 880 (plain error standard explained)
Shaw v. State, 292 Ga. 871 (appellate plain-error review: error must probably affect outcome)
Gates v. State, 298 Ga. 324 (harmlessness analysis where written material went to jury)
Salahuddin v. State, 277 Ga. 561 (permissible recharges on party-to-a-crime when jury asks)
Braithwaite v. State, 275 Ga. 884 (constructive possession as party to crime supports firearm-possession conviction)
Pitchford v. State, 294 Ga. 230 (slip of tongue in charge can be harmless when charge as whole is correct)
Delacruz v. State, 280 Ga. 392 (verbal inaccuracies that do not clearly mislead are not reversible error)