Walker v. State, 301 Ga. 482

On June 5, 2013 Roger Clark was shot and later died after an altercation with Gregory Walker, who had a disputed purchase of Clark’s 2004 SUV and had reported it stolen; Walker was arrested at the scene.
Walker admitted firing multiple times and testified he acted in self-defense; eyewitnesses and surveillance contradicted parts of his account.
A Clayton County jury convicted Walker of malice murder and related offenses; he was sentenced to life without parole for malice murder plus additional terms.
On appeal Walker challenged (1) sufficiency of the evidence, (2) trial court’s failure to instruct on voluntary manslaughter and defense of habitation, (3) exclusion of out-of-court statements (hearsay), and (4) ineffective assistance of counsel.
The Georgia Supreme Court reviewed plain-error where Walker failed to object at trial and applied Strickland for the ineffective-assistance claims.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Walker)	Defendant's Argument (State)	Held
Sufficiency of evidence	Evidence supports self-defense; convictions not supported	Evidence (eyewitnesses, video, admissions) permits guilty verdict	Affirmed — evidence sufficient under Jackson v. Virginia
Voluntary manslaughter jury charge	Court should have instructed on lesser-included offense	Walker withdrew request at charge conference; waived instruction	No plain error — withdrawn request = waiver
Defense-of-habitation instruction	Alternative justification (vehicle = habitation) should have been charged	No evidence Clark entered or attempted to enter SUV; no factual support	No plain error — no evidence to support instruction
Exclusion of father’s testimony (hearsay)	Exclusion deprived Walker of evidence supporting defense	No offer of proof; substance not made part of the record	No plain error — inadequate offer of proof; appellate review barred absent record showing
Ineffective assistance of counsel	Several trial omissions (withdrawn manslaughter request, not subpoenaing witnesses, not pursuing certain charges/evidence) were deficient & prejudicial	Strategic decisions after consultation; no showing of unreasonableness or prejudice	Denied — counsel’s choices were reasonable strategy or lacked prejudice under Strickland

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (establishes standard for evidentiary sufficiency)
State v. Kelly, 290 Ga. 29 (adopts four‑part federal plain error standard)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (two‑prong ineffective‑assistance standard)
Anthony v. State, 298 Ga. 827 (credibility and justification are jury questions)
Hicks v. State, 287 Ga. 260 (no error to refuse justification charge when no evidence supports it)
Lupoe v. State, 300 Ga. 233 (offers of proof required to preserve evidentiary exclusion claims)