Thurman v. State, 311 Ga. 277

Victim Timothy Hobbs was shot and killed on June 11, 2016; eight .40-caliber casings at the scene matched casings from a March 13, 2016 shooting.
Multiple witnesses and surveillance video placed Derrick Thurman near Hobbs moments before the shooting; evidence linked the same .40-caliber firearm to an earlier shooting in which Thurman was wounded.
A DeKalb County grand jury indicted Thurman for malice murder, aggravated assault, and related firearm offenses; a jury convicted him and the trial court sentenced him to life for malice murder.
On appeal Thurman raised a single claim: ineffective assistance of trial counsel for failing to investigate and call his grandmother, Bernice Thurman, as an alibi witness.
At posttrial hearings Bernice testified she saw Thurman at their shared apartment around 4:00 a.m. on June 11, 2016 but had since moved multiple times, had no phone, and was not contacted before trial; Thurman admitted he never provided counsel her contact information.
The trial court found the mother’s testimony not credible, concluded counsel could not reasonably have located Bernice, and denied the amended motion for new trial; the Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether counsel was constitutionally ineffective for failing to investigate and call Bernice Thurman as an alibi witness	Thurman: counsel failed to investigate or call grandmother who would have provided an alibi	State: counsel could not reasonably contact or locate the grandmother; her whereabouts were unknown and trial court credibility findings support that conclusion	Court affirmed: no deficient performance because counsel cannot be ineffective for failing to locate/call a witness whose whereabouts were unknown; trial court findings not clearly erroneous

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) (establishing the two‑prong deficient performance/prejudice test for ineffective assistance)
Smith v. State, 296 Ga. 731 (2015) (explaining the strong presumption that counsel’s conduct is reasonable and standard of appellate review)
Jones v. State, 296 Ga. 561 (2015) (presumption of reasonable performance applies even when counsel is unavailable to testify)
Moreno‑Rivera v. State, 291 Ga. 336 (2012) (trial counsel not deficient for failing to investigate or call a witness whose whereabouts are unknown)
Woods v. State, 275 Ga. 844 (2002) (same principle where appellant only provided uncertain witness location)
Hernandez v. State, 303 Ga. App. 103 (2010) (trial counsel not ineffective when appellant reported witnesses had moved and could not be located)
Davenport v. State, 309 Ga. 385 (2020) (procedural note that the Court no longer routinely considers sufficiency of the evidence sua sponte in non‑death cases)