Welbon v. State, 304 Ga. 729

In 2014 Wayne Welbon was convicted of malice murder and related offenses for the 2013 killing of Taurean Reeves; he was sentenced and his motion for new trial was denied.
On first appeal, this Court affirmed the sufficiency of the evidence but vacated and remanded because the trial court applied the wrong burden in resolving Welbon’s claim that his statements to police were involuntary.
On remand the trial court again denied the motion for new trial, finding by a preponderance of the evidence that Welbon’s statements were voluntary.
Welbon’s second appeal does not challenge the involuntariness ruling but raises (1) ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to move to strike a prospective juror for cause and (2) insufficiency of the evidence.
The Court rejects the sufficiency challenge under the law-of-the-case doctrine because this Court already held the evidence legally sufficient on the first appeal and no new trial occurred.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Welbon)	Defendant's Argument (State)	Held
Ineffective assistance: counsel failed to move to strike a prospective juror for cause	Counsel should have moved to strike a juror who expressed a likely preformed belief of guilt, avoiding use of a peremptory strike	Any deficiency was not prejudicial because the juror was removed by a peremptory strike and no unqualified juror served	No ineffective assistance: Welbon failed to show prejudice under Strickland; removal by peremptory made any error harmless under Willis
Sufficiency of the evidence	(raised now) Evidence insufficient to sustain convictions	Prior appellate ruling found evidence sufficient; law of the case binds this appeal	Dismissed under law-of-the-case: prior determination of sufficiency controls absent a new trial

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) (two-prong ineffective-assistance standard: deficient performance and prejudice)
Willis v. State, 304 Ga. 686 (2018) (holding that erroneous denial of a challenge for cause is harmless if the defendant removes that prospective juror with a peremptory strike and no unqualified juror serves)
Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979) (standard for reviewing legal sufficiency of the evidence)
Welbon v. State, 301 Ga. 106 (2017) (prior appeal: affirmed sufficiency but vacated and remanded based on incorrect voluntariness burden)
Walker-Madden v. State, 301 Ga. 744 (2017) (law-of-the-case applies to prior appellate sufficiency rulings)
Kirkland v. State, 274 Ga. 778 (2002) (prior authority on loss of peremptory strikes; discussed and distinguished)
Blount v. State, 303 Ga. 608 (2018) (no prejudice where allegedly biased juror played no role because removed)