Smith v. State, 306 Ga. 556

Victim Patricia Burley (54, cognitively impaired) disappeared in August 2010; her body was later found; cause of death asphyxiation.
Smith’s palm print/fingerprint and Burley’s DNA linked him to the scene; witnesses saw him with the victim and moving a trash can where the body was found.
Smith was indicted (March 2012) and convicted by a jury of malice murder (felony murder count later vacated); sentenced to life without parole.
Smith raised pretrial special pleas of incompetence and intent to assert insanity; competency and criminal-responsibility evaluations were performed; competency jury rejected incompetence.
At trial Smith asserted innocence (not an insanity defense); counsel requested a “guilty but mentally ill” style charge modeled on OCGA § 17-7-131, but the charge was not given.
Smith moved for a new trial arguing ineffective assistance for failure to obtain an insanity/mental-illness jury instruction; the trial court denied the motion and the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether trial counsel was ineffective for failing to obtain an OCGA § 17-7-131 insanity/mental-illness jury instruction	Smith: counsel failed to secure a jury instruction on insanity/mental illness, so assistance was deficient and outcome likely different	State: counsel strategically pursued innocence (defendant denied commission) and evaluator did not find legal insanity; decision was reasonable trial strategy	Court: No ineffective assistance — counsel’s strategy was reasonable; Smith failed Strickland prongs

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (establishes two-prong ineffective-assistance test)
Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (standard for sufficiency of evidence review)
Malcolm v. State, 263 Ga. 369 (operation-of-law effect on merged felony murder conviction)
Wright v. State, 291 Ga. 869 (discusses Strickland application in Georgia)
Fuller v. State, 277 Ga. 505 (explains burden under Strickland)
King v. State, 282 Ga. 505 (permitting counsel to pursue innocence over alternative defenses as reasonable strategy)
Mitchell v. State, 282 Ga. 416 (trial tactics afford substantial latitude; no reversal unless patently unreasonable)