Smith v. State, 303 Ga. 643

Victim Jasmine Moore (15) was beaten and stabbed in August 2009; her body was later burned. She was not pregnant.
Deion Smith and Tyberius Murchinson traveled to Moore’s home with a hammer, knife, and gloves; evidence and witness accounts placed them there that night.
Murchinson later confessed in 2014; police recovered Moore’s cell phone and a kitchen knife from a storm drain.
Murchinson pled guilty to aggravated assault and arson and testified for the State at Smith’s 2016 trial.
A jury convicted Smith of malice murder and arson; he received life for murder and a consecutive 15-year term for arson.
On appeal Smith argued his trial counsel was ineffective for not challenging the indictment’s specificity and for insufficient cross-examination of Murchinson; the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed.

Issue	Smith's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Counsel ineffective for failing to demur to indictment as vague	Indictment was vague for not specifying which co-defendant used hammer vs. knife	Indictment tracked statute, alleged elements, provided notice and protected double jeopardy; demurrer would be meritless	Not ineffective; indictment sufficient and challenge would lack merit
Counsel ineffective for inadequate cross-examination of co-defendant witness (Murchinson)	Counsel failed to probe Murchinson’s motive to testify (seek lighter deal), impairing ability to show bias	Cross-examination was tactical and probing about plea deal and inconsistencies; choices were trial strategy	Not ineffective; cross-examination was reasonable trial strategy

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (sufficiency of evidence standard)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (two-prong test for ineffective assistance)
Aikens v. State, 297 Ga. 229 (standard for deficient performance)
Ford v. State, 298 Ga. 560 (presumption of reasonable professional judgment)
Wyatt v. State, 295 Ga. 257 (indictment sufficiency and statutory-language tracking)
Grube v. State, 293 Ga. 257 (requirements for sufficient indictment)
Jones v. State, 289 Ga. 111 (no need to allege each co-defendant’s role)
Moss v. State, 298 Ga. 613 (failure to make meritless motion not ineffective assistance)
Edwards v. State, 299 Ga. 20 (cross-examination tactics ordinarily trial strategy)
Romer v. State, 293 Ga. 339 (impeachment and tactical choices)
Lupoe v. State, 300 Ga. 233 (burden of proving ineffective assistance)
Propst v. State, 299 Ga. 557 (need not address both Strickland prongs)
McClendon v. State, 299 Ga. 611 (operation of law re: vacated counts)