Rickman v. State, 304 Ga. 61

On May 24, 2015, a shooting after a nightclub altercation left Travious D. Floyd dead; Stephon D. Rickman was charged and later convicted of felony murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
Evidence at trial: video of vehicles, eyewitness testimony placing Rickman in the front-passenger seat of a Challenger, shell casing of a .380 found near the scene, and testimony that Rickman fired from the passenger window and said, "I shot him in the butt."
Police conducted a reenactment at the actual location using similar vehicles and officers posed to show possible shooter and victim positions; the State admitted six photographs from that reenactment.
Rickman objected at trial only to three photographs showing an officer as the shooter; on appeal he challenged admission of all six.
Rickman also claimed on appeal that trial counsel was ineffective for allowing Rickman to testify in a way undermining the defense; the motion for new trial did not raise a specific ineffectiveness claim.
The trial court denied the amended motion for new trial; Rickman appealed. The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Rickman)	Defendant's Argument (State)	Held
Admissibility of reenactment photographs	Photos were not a fair and accurate representation; misleading and prejudicial	Photographs were demonstrative, substantially similar in relevant particulars, jury instructed about limitations	Admission of all six photos was within trial court discretion; no abuse of discretion
Standard for demonstrative/reenactment evidence	(implicit) stricter similarity required based on older cases	New Evidence Code controls; substantial similarity in substantial particulars is sufficient	Federal‑rules based standard applies; conditions need not be identical, only substantially similar
Weight vs admissibility of staged evidence	Reenactment staging undermines probative value and misleads jury	Issues about staging go to weight; court and officers cautioned jury about hypothetical nature	Court properly limited via testimony and jury instruction; photos admissible and not plain error
Ineffective assistance of counsel for permitting defendant testimony	Counsel knew or should have known Rickman would testify harmfully; counsel ineffective	Motion for new trial failed to plead or argue specific ineffectiveness claim; claim waived and procedurally barred	Ineffectiveness claim waived for lack of specificity in motion and was not ruled on below; appellate review barred

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (standard for sufficiency of the evidence)
Smith v. State, 299 Ga. 424 (demonstrative evidence must be substantially similar under new Evidence Code)
Lupoe v. State, 300 Ga. 233 (plain error review when specific objection not preserved)
Pickren v. State, 269 Ga. 453 (older Evidence Code decisions on photographic evidence)
Eiland v. State, 130 Ga. App. 428 (photographs and reenactments under previous law)
United States v. Gaskell, 985 F.2d 1056 (Eleventh Circuit on substantial similarity standard for demonstrative evidence)
Jones v. State, 294 Ga. 501 (requirement of specificity for ineffectiveness claims in motion for new trial)
Moore v. State, 279 Ga. 45 (procedural bar where ineffective assistance not raised properly)
Cowart v. State, 294 Ga. 333 (no review where trial court did not rule on ineffectiveness claim)