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Smith v. State

The defendant could not prove the prejudice element of his ineffective assistance of trial counsel claim based on counsel's failure to seek a change of venue due to pre-trial publicity, because voir dire was not transcribed, and consequently, there was no evidence as to the effect of any such pre-trial publicity on the jury venire.

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Appellant John Lombard Smith was convicted of murder and related offenses in connection with the August 2005 shooting death of Betty Gaines. Smith now appeals, alleging evidentiary error and ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Finding no reversible error, we affirm.1

Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdicts, the evidence adduced at trial established as follows. In the early morning hours of August 25, 2005, Gaines was shot and killed on Monroe Street in Augusta, Georgia. Witness Tiffany D’Antignac, who was on the front porch of her Monroe Street home on the night of the shooting, testified that, shortly before the shooting, Smith had emerged from the house next to hers and stated that he intended to kill Gaines because she had stolen his gun. Thereafter, D’Antignac testified, a white truck drove up, Gaines exited the truck, and Smith approached, fussing with Gaines about his gun. Gaines responded by talking trash to Smith, and Smith fired three shots at Gaines, who fell to the ground. Smith turned around and placed a call on his cell phone, stating, I just killed Betty. According to D’Antignac, Smith then went back to his house, transferred some guns to the nearby home of his brother, Walter Smith, and left the scene with his sister-in-law. D’Antignac also testified that she had previously seen Smith with various guns, including a .32 caliber revolver, which he had purchased in her presence. The single projectile recovered in the autopsy of the victim was a .32 caliber lead bullet.

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