Wainwright v. State, 305 Ga. 63

December 26, 2013: Xavier Arnold was shot and later died; Ibrahim Sanusi was shot in the leg and survived. Zion Wainwright (14 at the time) and Qutravius Palmer were charged together; jury convicted Wainwright of malice murder, armed robberies, aggravated assault, and related firearm counts.
Key eyewitness Xenia Aimes identified Wainwright at trial; other evidence included cell‑tower pings, phone contacts between defendants, and a witness who heard admissions by the defendants.
At trial lead counsel Ricky Morris arrived late and missed most of the State’s direct examination of Aimes; co‑counsel Scott Fortas represented Wainwright during that portion and Morris cross‑examined Aimes after arriving.
Wainwright moved for continuance for Morris’s presence before the State called witnesses; the trial court declined to delay and began testimony after a short pause; Fortas did not press a continuance on the record during testimony.
Wainwright requested voir dire in panels of 12; the court seated jurors in panels of 14 for individual voir dire. He also requested jury instructions on accident, justification, and voluntary manslaughter, which the court refused.
On appeal the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed convictions except it vacated one aggravated‑assault conviction and concurrent 20‑year sentence because that assault merged with the armed robbery count.

Issue	Wainwright's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Denial of continuance so lead counsel could hear key witness	Court abused discretion by starting testimony without Morris and harmed the defense	Fortas was present as competent co‑counsel; court allowed a short delay; no showing of harm	No abuse of discretion; denial not reversible because no demonstrated harm
Ineffective assistance for Morris cross‑examining Aimes after missing most direct	Morris’s absence prejudiced Wainwright; counsel deprived him at a critical stage	Co‑counsel covered direct; Morris effectively cross‑examined; no specific deficient acts shown	Strickland standard applies (no Cronic relief); no ineffective assistance found
Voir dire panels (requested panels of 12)	Denial prevented effective management of voir dire	Court used panels of 14 and permitted individual questioning; no prejudice shown	Error, if any, was harmless given lack of harm and strong evidence of guilt
Denial of jury instructions (accident, justification, voluntary manslaughter)	Slight evidence supported each instruction	Evidence showed Wainwright was the aggressor engaged in armed robbery; defenses inapplicable	Court properly refused all three instructions; no charge warranted
Sentencing/merger of aggravated assault	Trial court imposed separate sentence for aggravated assault on Sanusi	State did not cross‑appeal merger benefit to defendant	Aggravated‑assault conviction/sentence vacated—should have merged with armed robbery

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979) (standard for reviewing sufficiency of the evidence)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) (two‑prong ineffective assistance test)
Cronic v. United States, 466 U.S. 648 (1984) (narrow exception where prejudice is presumed due to constructive denial of counsel)
Phoenix v. State, 304 Ga. 785 (2018) (appellate deference to trial court continuance rulings; burden to show harm)
Geiger v. State, 295 Ga. 648 (2014) (continuance harmless‑error principles)
Cox v. State, 279 Ga. 223 (2005) (no per se violation when co‑counsel represents defendant)
Charleston v. State, 292 Ga. 678 (2013) (Cronic standard and when Strickland applies)
Mills v. State, 287 Ga. 828 (2010) (accident defense unavailable where defendant engaged in criminal scheme)
Berrian v. State, 297 Ga. 740 (2015) (voluntary manslaughter and mutual combat principles)
Thomas v. State, 289 Ga. 877 (2011) (merger principles for related offenses)