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Final Copy 286 Ga. 535 S09A1801. BRIDGES v. THE STATE.

Melton, Justice. This is the second appearance of this case before this Court. In Bridges v. State, 279 Ga. 351 (613 SE2d 621) (2005), we found that the evidence overwhelmingly supported Roy Bridges' dual convictions for murder, but we remanded the case to the trial court solely to consider Bridges' timely-raised allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel. In our prior opinion, we set forth the facts of this case as follows: On December 27, 1997, the severely beaten body of [Bridges'] wife, JoAnn Bridges, was found in the Whigham, Georgia, home of her mother, a butcher knife lodged in her chest. Upstairs lay the body of [Bridges'] invalid mother-in-law, Christine Ulmer, her trachea cut open. Authorities soon determined the murders had occurred sometime after 10:00 p.m. the previous night. Although evidence initially indicated the murders may have been associated with a violent burglary, that theory was soon abandoned as no property appeared to be missing from the home. When asked about his whereabouts on the night of the murders, [Bridges] told investigators that he had been hunting near Opelika, Alabama, yet it was determined that he never checked into the hunting club where he claimed to have stayed. [n.2. [Bridges] later conceded to investigators that he had not stayed at the hunting club, stating instead that he had stayed at an Opelika motel located

near the club.] [Bridges] told authorities that he was in Alabama from approximately 3:00 p.m. on December 26th until 5:00 a.m. on December 27th, and that he had made no phone calls on the night of the 26th. However, cell phone records revealed that shortly after 10:00 p.m. on that night, [Bridges] placed a cell phone call that originated within ten to twelve miles of Arlington, Georgia, which is located approximately forty miles northwest of the crime scene. On the same day the murders were discovered, [Bridges] asked JoAnn Bridges' employer whether JoAnn had any financial benefits payable upon her death. Bridges later told his son-in-law that he was anxious to settle JoAnn's estate because he "needed that money." After his arrest and before trial, [Bridges] asked a cellmate to kill two potential State witnesses and/or to assist [Bridges] in crafting a false alibi. Moreover, investigators learned that shortly before the murders, [Bridges] had begun an adulterous affair with Marcy Garvin, his previous wife, whom he asked to re-marry him. [Bridges] also asked a female friend to stage an adulterous scene with Garvin's husband in order to make a divorce easier to obtain

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