Wofford v. State, 305 Ga. 694

Late Feb 28, 2016, Wofford shot Jimmie Sellers (fatal) and Mardell Blackburn (nonfatal) after a confrontation that began at a nightclub; Blackburn was hit by a single gunshot to the head and Sellers later shot in the head and killed.
Wofford was indicted on multiple counts including malice murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, and firearms offenses; tried alone in May 2017 and convicted on all counts; sentenced to life without parole for malice murder plus additional terms; felony murder vacated.
Wofford appealed, principally claiming ineffective assistance of trial counsel; he also challenged sentencing/conviction merging of offenses based on the same conduct.
Trial court did not merge an aggravated assault and an aggravated battery that both rested on the single gunshot to Blackburn; the Supreme Court of Georgia found that to be error.
The Court reviewed ineffective-assistance claims (failure to ask a police officer about photos, failure to impeach certain witnesses with prior convictions, failure to present Sellers’ criminal history/gang evidence) and applied Strickland standards.

Issue	Wofford's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence	Convictions unsupported?	Evidence showed Wofford shot both victims; justified verdicts	Evidence sufficient to support convictions under Jackson v. Virginia
Merger of offenses	Aggravated assault and aggravated battery on Blackburn both based on same single gunshot; should not both stand	Trial court allowed separate convictions/sentences	Court vacated aggravated assault conviction and sentence and directed merger with aggravated battery
Failure to elicit photo identification from police officer	Attorney unreasonably failed to ask officer to identify photos showing a ring that could support justification defense	No evidence officer would have given helpful testimony; defendant failed to call officer at new-trial hearing or authenticate photos	No ineffective assistance — speculative testimony insufficient to show deficiency or prejudice
Failure to impeach/probe victim/witnesses and failure to present Sellers’ prior convictions/gang status	Counsel failed to impeach witnesses with prior convictions and failed to present victim’s criminal history/gang evidence that could aid defense	Counsel did impeach some priors; other priors were inadmissible, unavailable, or strategically omitted; defendant produced no admissible gang evidence	No ineffective assistance — omissions were either inadmissible, unsupported, or reasonable trial strategy; defendant failed to show prejudice

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (sufficiency review standard requiring that evidence allow a rational trier of fact to find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (test for ineffective assistance: deficient performance and prejudice)
Kimmelman v. Morrison, 477 U.S. 365 (standards on counsel performance in context of inadequate investigation/evidence)
Regent v. State, 299 Ga. 172 (aggravated assault merges with aggravated battery when based on same conduct toward same victim)
Dickens v. State, 280 Ga. 320 (defendant cannot prove uncalled witness’s testimony via counsel’s speculation)
Goodwin v. Cruz-Padillo, 265 Ga. 614 (similar principle that speculative or unauthenticated testimony cannot establish prejudice)
Heard v. State, 296 Ga. 681 (trial strategy deference; counsel's reasonable tactical choices are not ineffective assistance)
Mohamud v. State, 297 Ga. 532 (limits on admissible character evidence about victims; reputation/opinion allowed, not specific bad acts)