Turnbull v. State, 317 Ga. App. 719

Turnbull was convicted in a bench trial of making harassing phone calls to his former girlfriend, N. C.
Evidence showed Turnbull repeatedly called and appeared at N. C.’s residence/work after breakup; he asserted his purpose was to recover belongings.
December 19–20, 2009 events included multiple calls, a theft of Turnbull’s belongings, and threats about jail; N. C. sought protective orders.
Turnbull contradicted the State’s portrayal, claiming calls were to retrieve belongings and denying harassment.
Defense sought a directed verdict; the trial court denied it; judgment entered on a guilty finding.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether evidence supported intent to harass beyond reasonable doubt	Turnbull argues calls aimed to recover property, not harass	State contends evidence supports harassing purpose	Yes, sufficient evidence to find intent to harass beyond reasonable doubt
Whether defense counsel was ineffective	Turnbull claims inadequate preparation and failure to call witnesses	State asserts counsel acted within wide professional discretion and no prejudice shown	No reversible ineffective-assistance demonstrated
Whether Turnbull knowingly and intelligently waived jury trial	Record insufficient to show knowing waiver	Record shows thorough on-record inquiry and voluntary waiver	Waiver was knowing, voluntary, and intelligent

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (U.S. 1979) (sufficiency standard for convicting on appeal)
Dickens v. State, 280 Ga. 320 (Ga. 2006) (trial counsel standard and witness-whether to testify)
Shank v. State, 290 Ga. 844 (Ga. 2012) (trial strategy in witness selection and evidence presentation)
Bunn v. State, 307 Ga. App. 381 (Ga. App. 2010) (limits on claims of ineffective assistance for failure to call witnesses)
Strong v. State, 275 Ga. 465 (Ga. 2002) (preparation for testifying claim analysis)
Perkins v. Hall, 288 Ga. 810 (Ga. 2011) (prejudice prong in ineffective-assistance—probability of different outcome)