Following a jury trial, Ronnie Duane Lewis was found guilty of malice murder, armed robbery, burglary, false imprisonment, and aggravated assault in connection with a home invasion and the beating and shooting death of Ophir Thompson.1 On appeal, Lewis contends that the trial court erred by denying his motion to suppress two of his custodial statements to police, 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, Thompson lived in a home on a fifteen acre horse farm in Haralson County. There was a second home on the property that Thompson also owned, and he rented that home to Lewis. On February 11, 2012, Lewis and Mickey Mulder went to Thompson’s home while Lewis was brandishing what an eyewitness descried as a long gun. This same eyewitness then saw Lewis break the glass in the window of the door to Thompson’s home with this gun. A second eyewitness saw Lewis go into the house while holding a rifle. Once Lewis and Mulder got into the house, they restrained Thompson by wrapping his hands, feet, and torso with University of Georgia-themed duct tape. Lewis and Mulder then choked Thompson and beat him with the butt of Lewis’ gun in an effort to get Thompson to reveal to them the combination for a safe in the house in which Thompson kept several guns and a great deal of cash. Lewis and Mulder were eventually able to open the safe, and they shot Thompson twice in the head, killing him. Lewis and Mulder stole multiple guns and thousands of dollars in cash from the safe. Lewis openly displayed his newfound money to others and later confessed to a friend that he had killed Thompson, but claimed that he had done so in self-defense and that he did not mean to do it. He also went to a friend’s house to store several guns after the murder and robbery had taken place.
