Thompson v. the State, 341 Ga. App. 883

On Oct. 8, 2011, Cedric Thompson stood outside an Atlanta apartment complex yelling about collecting a 10% commission from local drug sellers; Darrice Smith laughed.
Thompson retrieved a handgun, fired multiple shots, and struck Smith in the leg; Sandra Howell was shot in the arm and a 14‑year‑old (T.D.) was shot in the foot.
Thompson was charged and convicted by a jury of three counts of aggravated battery and one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
On appeal Thompson challenged (1) sufficiency of the evidence, (2) a jury instruction that “testimony of a single witness is sufficient to establish a fact” (omitting the phrase “if believed”), and (3) ineffective assistance of trial counsel for several alleged omissions.
The Court of Appeals reviewed the sufficiency claim under the usual Jackson standard, reviewed the unobjected jury instruction for plain error, and applied Strickland standards to the ineffective‑assistance claims.

Issue	Thompson's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of the evidence	Evidence insufficient to support aggravated battery and firearm possession convictions	Testimony and recordings showed Thompson fired the gun and hit three people; sufficient for conviction	Convictions supported; evidence sufficient for a rational jury to find guilt beyond reasonable doubt
Jury instruction (single‑witness rule)	Instruction was erroneous for omitting “if believed,” which could mislead jurors	No plain error — jury was fully instructed on witness credibility and to decide whom to believe	No plain error; omission did not probably affect outcome
Ineffective assistance — failure to object to instruction	Counsel deficient for not objecting, causing prejudice	Any failure was not prejudicial given full credibility instructions; no reasonable probability of different outcome	Claim fails for lack of prejudice under Strickland
Ineffective assistance — transcript/hearsay issues	Counsel ineffective for not objecting to deputy testifying about transcript and for withdrawing hearsay objection	Thompson showed no specific discrepancy or harm from transcript testimony; withdrawal of hearsay objection plausibly strategic	No deficient performance or prejudice established; claim fails

Kilby v. State, 289 Ga. App. 457 (standard for reviewing sufficiency of the evidence)
Fulton v. State, 278 Ga. 58 (evidence supporting firearm‑during‑felony charge)
Cheddersingh v. State, 290 Ga. 680 (plain‑error test for unobjected jury instructions)
Gates v. State, 298 Ga. 324 (requirement to show the error probably affected outcome in plain‑error review)
Davis v. State, 329 Ga. App. 797 (instructional errors assessed in context of entire charge)
Daniel v. State, 338 Ga. App. 389 (Strickland standard repeated for ineffective assistance claims)
Cushenberry v. State, 300 Ga. 190 (failure to prove either prong defeats ineffectiveness claim)
Wilhite v. State, 337 Ga. App. 324 (similar ineffective‑assistance claim rejected where full credibility charge cured omission)
Stokes v. State, 281 Ga. 825 (no prejudice where appellant fails to show harm from alleged counsel failures)
Williams v. State, 282 Ga. 561 (trial strategy decisions ordinarily do not constitute ineffective assistance)