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Final Copy 290 Ga. 817 S11A1838. WHEELER v. THE STATE. MELTON, Justice. Following a jury trial, 73-year-old Martin Wheeler was found guilty of malice murder, felony murder, and aggravated assault in connection with the strangling, beating, and stabbing death of his elderly and wheelchair-bound exgirlfriend, Pearl Johnson.1 On appeal Wheeler contends, among other things, that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to sustain his convictions and that his trial counsel was ineffective. We affirm. 1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury's verdict, the evidence reveals that, on the evening of January 6, 2007, Johnson allowed Wheeler to

On March 20, 2007, Wheeler was indicted for malice murder, felony murder (aggravated assault), and aggravated assault. Following a September 17-19, 2007 jury trial, Wheeler was found guilty on all counts. On September 19, 2007, Wheeler was sentenced to life imprisonment for malice murder. The felony murder conviction was vacated by operation of law (Malcolm v. State, 263 Ga. 369 (4) (434 SE2d 479) (1993)), and the aggravated assault count was merged with the malice murder count for sentencing purposes. Wheeler filed a motion for new trial on September 3, 2009, which he amended on September 9, 2009, October 1, 2009, and June 4, 2010. The motion was denied on May 13, 2011. Wheeler's timely appeal was docketed in this Court for the September 2011 term and was orally argued on November 7, 2011.

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enter her home. The next day, police found Johnson's beaten, stabbed, and strangled body in her living room, and blood evidence collected at the scene later connected Wheeler to the crime. At trial, Wheeler's ex-wife of twenty years and three of his ex-girlfriends testified about Wheeler's physical abuse of them and his attempts to strangle them

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