Veasey v. State, 311 Ga. App. 762

Veasey was convicted by jury of robbery, two counts of fleeing and attempting to elude, and various traffic offenses.
The victim, a 67-year-old woman, was followed in a grocery store and robbed in the parking lot after a struggle over her purse.
A high-speed pursuit occurred, Veasey fled into Florida and was ejected from his car after crashing.
Evidence included items stolen from the victim found on Veasey and the victim’s purse recovered from his car.
The State dismissed some counts; Veasey was convicted on the remaining charged offenses.
On appeal, Veasey challenged the sufficiency of the evidence, a Batson challenge, and alleged ineffective assistance of counsel.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of the evidence to convict	Veasey argues identification and discovery were insufficient	State contends evidence tied Veasey to the robbery	Evidence sufficient to support convictions
Batson challenge on jury strikes	Veasey asserts racial discrimination in strikes	State offered neutral, race-balanced explanations	Batson challenge overruled; reasons deemed race-neutral and record adequate
Ineffective assistance of counsel claims	Counsel failed to object to hearsay, challenged in-court ID, and object to foundation	Counsel acted within strategic norms and objections would be futile or meritless	No ineffective assistance; claims without merit on the record because objections would have been futile or meritless

Purkett v. Elem, 514 U.S. 765 (U.S. 1995) (peremptory challenge race-neutral explanations need not be persuasive)
Cooper v. State, 220 Ga.App. 531 (Ga. Ct. App. 1996) (requirements for Batson race-neutral explanations and deference to trial court)
Powell v. State, 310 Ga.App. 144 (Ga. Ct. App. 2011) (evidence sufficiency review after conviction; defer to jury verdict)
Chapman v. State, 273 Ga. 348 (Ga. 2001) (ineffective assistance standard; prejudice inquiry)
Moore v. State, 278 Ga. 397 (Ga. 2004) (harmless error under overwhelming evidence)