Following a jury trial, Thaddius Stanbury appeals his convictions for the murder of Allen Blash, Jr., and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.1 Stanbury contends that: 1 the trial court committed plain error by not providing a jury charge on the necessity of corroborating accomplice testimony; 2 trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to request a jury charge on accomplice corroboration; 3 the State presented insufficient corroborating evidence of Salik McKenzie’s accomplice testimony; and 4 the trial court erred by failing to exclude McKenzie’s accomplice testimony. For the reasons set forth below, we reverse.
1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the record shows that, during the day on August 20, 2009, Krystel Quarles and Blash were walking back to Quarles’s boarding home when two men pulled up in a gold Honda automobile and called Blash over to them in order to purchase marijuana. Later in the afternoon, Blash received a phone call from McKenzie, who wanted to purchase more marijuana. That evening, McKenzie and Stanbury arrived at the front door of Quarles’s boarding home. Although Quarles did not know Stanbury, she later gave a physical description of the man accompanying McKenzie that matched Stanbury’s appearance.2 Quarles was upstairs when she heard Blash ask, what are you doing Quarles peeked downstairs and saw McKenzie’s accomplice restraining Blash’s hands behind his back and McKenzie pointing a gun at him. Quarles recognized McKenzie, but only caught brief glimpses of the accomplice’s face. Blash got his arms loose, pulled out his gun, and pursued the two men. Quarles lost sight of the two men, then heard several gunshots, and saw Blash fall forward onto the ground. She called 911 and saw the man matching Stanbury’s description run down the road. Quarles saw McKenzie wrestling with Blash, heard a final gunshot, and saw McKenzie injured in the front lawn. After the commotion dissipated, Quarles attended to Blash, who was fatally injured. Ballistics experts concluded Blash was shot with both a .38 caliber gun and a .45 caliber gun. Quarles affirmatively identified McKenzie as the man holding the gun at a photo lineup eight days after the shooting, as well as at trial. Quarles described Stanbury as taller than McKenzie, with shoulder length dreadlocks, and a very dark complexion. After the shooting, Andrae Wilson heard cries for help and ran outside. Wilson took the injured McKenzie to the hospital, and told police that he saw Stanbury and McKenzie walking in the neighborhood prior to the shooting. At trial, Wilson identified Stanbury as a person he saw near Quarles’s house after he rushed out to respond to cries for help.
