State v. Sims, 296 Ga. 465

Steve A. Sims, Jr. shot and killed Shawn Hancock outside Sims’s grandmother’s home after an altercation between Hancock and Sims (Hancock had interjected into an argument between Sims and his ex‑girlfriend).
Hancock was unarmed during the fight; eyewitnesses saw Sims go inside the house, return with a gun, and fire multiple shots; medical evidence showed fatal chest wounds and no close‑range residue.
Sims was interviewed by a GBI agent after arrest; he initially denied shooting but later admitted to shooting after being confronted and said Hancock hit him up to three times; he did not claim to have called police after the shooting.
A jury convicted Sims of felony murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony (acquitted of malice murder and aggravated assault); sentenced to life plus five years; Sims moved for a new trial.
The trial court granted a new trial, finding trial counsel ineffective for failing to object to prosecutor opening‑statement comments that emphasized Sims’s pre‑arrest silence/failure to call police; the State appealed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of the evidence for felony murder and firearm possession	State: evidence (eyewitnesses, admission, gun recovered) supports convictions	Sims: not raised as the basis for reversal here	Court: evidence was sufficient under Jackson v. Virginia to sustain convictions
Prosecutor’s opening comments on pre‑arrest silence	State: comments did not violate Mallory or related precedent and were proper	Sims: comments improperly highlighted failure to call police and pre‑arrest silence, violating bright‑line rule	Court: comments violated Mallory; counsel was deficient for not objecting
Ineffective assistance — prejudice from failure to object	State: any error was harmless given evidence	Sims: improper opening likely tainted jury on self‑defense and created reasonable probability of different outcome	Court: prejudice shown; self‑defense was contested and comments likely influenced verdict — new trial affirmed

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (establishes standard for sufficiency of the evidence)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (standard for ineffective assistance of counsel)
Mallory v. State, 261 Ga. 625 (prosecutor may not comment on defendant’s pre‑arrest silence)
Sanders v. State, 290 Ga. 637 (reaffirming the bright‑line rule barring comment on pre‑arrest silence)
Collins v. State, 289 Ga. 666 (discusses prejudice from prosecutorial misconduct)