Graves v. State

Following a jury trial, Rico Antwan Graves was convicted of aggravated assault OCGA § 16-5-21 a 2. Graves filed a motion for new trial, which the trial court denied. On appeal, Graves contends that the trial court improperly commented on the evidence, and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. Discerning no error, we affirm.

Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict,1 the trial evidence shows that Graves and the victim had been friends. In early 2009, Graves and the victim had a falling out, and the victim told Graves that he no longer wanted to hang out with him. Graves would call the victim thereafter, and the victim refused to answer Graves’s telephone calls. At one point, Graves went to the victim’s house, and the victim told Graves not to visit him without his permission. Graves continued to show up, uninvited, at the victim’s house, which caused verbal arguments between the two men that escalated over time. At one point, Graves told the victim to watch his back.