Summerville v. State, 320 Ga. 60

Michael Earl Summerville was convicted of felony murder in the death of Martha West, his romantic partner, after evidence showed West died from being struck by a motor vehicle driven by Summerville.
Physical evidence linked Summerville's truck to the crime, including fibers consistent with West's leggings, tire tracks around the body, and significant injuries found during the autopsy.
At trial, Summerville was found not guilty of malice murder but guilty of felony murder and aggravated assault (family violence); he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Summerville appealed, arguing (1) ineffective assistance of trial counsel for not objecting to the prosecution’s closing argument and (2) that the trial court improperly limited cross-examination of the medical examiner.
The Supreme Court reviewed his claims after the trial court denied his motion for a new trial.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Ineffective Assistance – Failure to Object to Argument	Counsel failed to object to the prosecutor’s misleading reference to fiber evidence.	The prosecutor’s inference was reasonable and within permissible latitude for closing.	No deficiency; not ineffective assistance.
Limiting Cross of Medical Examiner (Bias Inquiry)	Improper restriction on questioning about examiner’s discipline, central to bias.	Examiner’s discipline unrelated to bias; attempts amounted to impermissible character attack.	No abuse of discretion; limitation on cross was justified.

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (defining ineffective assistance of counsel standard)
Walker v. State, 312 Ga. 232 (noting wide latitude in closing argument)
Blocker v. State, 316 Ga. 568 (permissible argument standards in closing)
Nicely v. State, 291 Ga. 788 (trial court discretion over cross-examination)
Lucas v. State, 303 Ga. 134 (limits on cross-examination and relevance)
Olds v. State, 299 Ga. 65 (distinguishing relevance and probative value for cross-examination)