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Final Copy 289 Ga. 111 S11A0414. JONES v. THE STATE.

BENHAM, Justice. In a bifurcated trial, appellant Michael Bernard Jones was convicted of the felony murder of Curtis Tony Howard (with aggravated assault as the predicate felony), possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.1 On appeal, Jones contends he was deprived of his constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel. 1. The State presented evidence that two men discovered the victim's body in the bed of his pickup truck which was parked behind a vacant Richmond County mobile home. The medical examiner testified the victim had died as a result of gunshot wounds to his chest and abdomen that were

The victim was killed on August 24, 2006 in Burke County, and his body was discovered several days later in the backyard of a vacant mobile home in nearby Richmond County. Appellant was arrested on August 29 by a trooper with the Texas Highway Patrol and was returned to Georgia. On October 25, 2007, the grand jurors of Burke County returned a true bill of indictment charging appellant and three others with malice murder and felony murder (aggravated assault) in connection with the death of Curtis Howard, as well as possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. Each co-indictee was also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Appellant's trial took place May 5-8, 2008, and resulted in the jury acquitting him of malice murder and convicting him of the remaining charges. Appellant was sentenced on May 8 to life imprisonment for the felony murder and to a term of five years for each of the firearm convictions, to be served consecutively. Appellant's motion for new trial, timely filed May 20, 2008, was amended on May 7, 2010, was the subject of a hearing held on May 18, 2010, and was denied by an order filed July 12, 2010. A timely notice of appeal filed on July 29, 2010, caused the appeal to be docketed to the January 2011 term of Court, where it was submitted for decision on the briefs.

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consistent with having been inflicted by a rifle. Appellant was arrested in Texas several days later while a passenger in a car that was stopped for speeding by a Texas Highway Patrol officer, who discovered there was an outstanding warrant from Georgia for appellant's arrest. The man who was driving the car in which appellant was a passenger when he was arrested testified that appellant had told him two days before the victim was killed that appellant was going to participate with others in the robbery "out in the country" of a man coming to Waynesboro with drugs. After the victim was killed, appellant told the witness that he and three others had "done the job" and he had received $250 of the $600-$700 taken from the victim. Two of the three men indicted with appellant pled guilty to lesser charges and testified against appellant. Each of the testifying co-indictees stated he had purchased kilograms of cocaine from the victim, who did not live in the area, and that the victim had called each of them earlier in the week to say he was coming to town later in the week. One co-indictee testified he and the victim drove to the other testifying co-indictee's Burke County home in the victim's pickup truck. As they approached the house, the passenger co-indictee

telephoned the co-indictee who owned the home and told him of their impending arrival. When they drove behind the house, appellant and the third co-indictee, both armed with "long guns," approached the pickup truck

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Georgia Law