Terry Alexander Wade was convicted of armed robbery. See OCGA § 16-8-41. He appeals from the denial of his motion for new trial on the ground that he received ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Because he has not demonstrated that trial counsel’s performance was both deficient and prejudicial to his defense, we affirm. The trial evidence, viewed most favorably to the jury’s verdict, see Hinton v. State , 292 Ga. App. 40, 41 663 SE2d 401 2008, demonstrated that around 11 a.m. on January 27, 2005, two masked men entered a Putnam County bank. One yelled: “This is a bank robbery. Everybody on the floor or we’ll kill you.” One of the men used an orthopedic crutch to jump over the teller counter, while the other man remained in the bank lobby. The man who had jumped over the counter poked a bank teller in the side with something and told her she would be hurt if she did not cooperate. He demanded to be taken to the vault and for money to be placed in a duffle bag. The two men then left the bank, having taken approximately $243,000.
The men fled in a car that was found abandoned a short time later. When law enforcement officers searched the abandoned car they found a fingerprint that an analyst with the Federal Bureau of Investigations determined belonged to Wade. Other evidence was presented that also linked Wade to the bank robbery. Several eyewitnesses to the robbery described the man who jumped over the teller counter as having a distinctive facial structure that could be discerned through his sheer mask —a narrow face, long jaw bone, and protruding mouth —and they testified that Wade’s facial structure resembled that of the robber. A cellular telephone belonging to Wade’s wife and sometimes used by Wade had been used in the bank’s vicinity within minutes of the robbery. In early January 2005, Wade a resident of Ohio had told a friend that he was planning a trip to Atlanta to “work.” Less than a week after the bank robbery, Wade purchased a car for $2,900; the person who sold him the car testified that Wade paid for it in cash using hundred dollar bills that he pulled out of a bag in the seller’s presence. After his arrest, Wade told his sister in a telephone conversation that “green stuff” was “all right where it’s at.” A search of Wade’s house produced, among other things, a bill for service for the cellular telephone that had been used near the bank, which was missing the specific page reflecting the date of the bank robbery, and a composition notebook containing notes about “armed robbery, robbery, statutes, and enhancements.” And similar transaction evidence was presented that Wade had committed prior bank robberies, including one in which he had jumped over the teller counter.
