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Final Copy 288 Ga. 647

S10A1905. NEWSOME v. THE STATE. HUNSTEIN, Chief Justice. Marcus Leshae Newsome was charged with murder and felony murder in the shooting death of Lawrence Chambliss as well as four counts of armed robbery and six counts of aggravated assault. He was convicted of all counts and now appeals, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence, the admission of an alleged hearsay statement from an unavailable co-indictee, the failure to exclude alleged similar transaction evidence and the effectiveness of his counsel.1 Finding no error, we affirm. However, because Newsome received

The crimes occurred on or about March 26, 2008. Newsome was indicted together with Erik Haynes and Jerrod Carter on August 19, 2008 in Bibb County. Newsome was charged with murder, felony murder, four counts of armed robbery, six counts of aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was tried together with Carter and found guilty of all charges on March 6, 2009. In a sentence signed March 9, 2009 and filed ten days later, Newsome was given life imprisonment for the murder, a concurrent life sentence for the felony murder, life without parole for one count of armed robbery to run consecutive to the felony murder sentence, concurrent life sentences for each of the remaining three armed robberies and one consecutive plus five concurrent twenty-year sentences on the aggravated assaults. The possession charge was nolle prossed. Newsome's motion for new trial, filed March 11, 2009 and amended March 17, 2009 and February 17, 2010, was denied May 27, 2010. A notice of appeal was filed June 21, 2010. The appeal was docketed for the September 2010 term in this Court and was submitted for decision on the briefs.

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two life sentences for the murder of a single victim, his sentence for felony murder must be vacated and the case remanded for the reasons that follow. 1. The jury was authorized to find that appellant was the driver of a silver two-door Honda Accord that pulled into the driveway leading to an apartment on Pebble Street in Macon. The apartment had been rented two weeks earlier by LaShonda Williams; its former residents were drug dealers. At least two men exited the Accord and threatened the three men sitting near the apartment's entrance.2 When Williams, holding her infant in her arms, stepped outside, shots were fired at the five victims. Williams recognized coindictee Haynes,3 whom she had known for several years, as one of her assailants and at trial identified appellant as the driver of the Accord. Within minutes after the assailants left the Pebble Street apartment, a silver two-door Honda Accord pulled into the driveway of an apartment on Fletcher Street, approximately two miles from Pebble Street. Two men from the Accord, including one with a rifle who was identified as co-indictee

The men were Williams' uncle and the father and uncle of Williams' infant daughter, Markita. Haynes was tried separately and convicted. We affirmed his conviction in Haynes v. State, 287 Ga. 202 (695 SE2d 219) (2010). 2
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Haynes by persons who knew him, entered the apartment, firing shots at the 17 or more men who had gathered in the apartment to watch college basketball and play cards. Lawrence Chambliss was shot in the back of his arm and chest as he fled the room; he bled to death from his wounds. His nephew, Cory Pounds, was shot in the back as he fled. Pounds survived his injury and testified about seeing a third assailant armed with a handgun coming around the back of the apartment. Victims Faulks, Grayer and Milford, who were in the front bedroom, and McClinton, who was near the front door, were robbed at gunpoint by Haynes and the other assailant. Witness Bentley testified that, a few days before these crimes, Bentley borrowed a silver two-door Honda Accord4 and gave appellant and another man a ride to appellant's home, where appellant retrieved a handgun; appellant later drove off with the Accord without Bentley's permission; and Bentley saw that Accord in the vicinity of Fletcher and Pebble Streets on the night the crimes were committed. Bentley also testified that he had previously seen appellant in the company of both co-indictee Haynes and co-

The owner of the Accord testified that the car was stolen and that she reported the theft to police three days before the crimes at issue. 3

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defendant Carter. Appellant testified at trial that he was at home with his girlfriend, Kenyana Carswell, and another woman at the time the attacks occurred; that he was a drug dealer who sold powder cocaine; that he did not own a gun; and that he was not on good terms with either Bentley or Haynes because they both owed him money for drugs. Appellant asserts that the jury could not have found witnesses Bentley and Williams to be credible because Bentley had a grudge against appellant and Williams did not have sufficient time to observe him so as to accurately identify him. However, it was for the jury to determine the credibility of the witnesses, see Vega v. State, 285 Ga. 32 (1) (673 SE2d 223) (2009), and the jury was authorized to disbelieve the alibi defense appellant proffered. See Edwards v. State, 282 Ga. 259 (1) (646 SE2d 663) (2007). We conclude that the evidence presented at trial was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find appellant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the charged crimes. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307 (99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979). 2. Macon Police Detective Vamper testified that, during his investigation into the crimes, he spoke with appellant's co-indictee, Haynes,
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and then answered affirmatively when the prosecutor asked if Vamper "at some point" obtained an arrest warrant for appellant. Appellant contends that this testimony was hearsay and its admission was reversible error, speculating that the jury may have inferred from Vamper's testimony that Haynes, who was called as a State witness but refused to answer any questions, had provided the information for the warrant. We disagree. Testimony is considered hearsay if the witness is testifying to another party's statement in order to prove or demonstrate the truth of the matter asserted in that statement. See OCGA

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