Kelly Hickson was indicted for malice murder and related offenses for fatally shooting another man in the parking lot of an adult strip club. Hickson was tried before a jury, which acquitted him of the malice murder charge and of voluntary manslaughter as a lesser included offense of malice murder, but was unable to reach a verdict on the remaining charges. Following a second jury trial, Hickson was convicted of voluntary manslaughter as a lesser included offense of felony murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. On appeal from the denial of his motion for new trial, Hickson contends that the trial court erred in admitting evidence of similar transactions in which he brandished a pistol during a verbal altercation; in admitting a certified felony conviction that listed the name of the defendant as “John O’Neal Jones”; and in charging the jury on voluntary manslaughter, given his acquittal of that offense in the first trial. He also argues that his defense counsel was ineffective for requesting a jury charge on voluntary manslaughter in the second trial. Lastly, Hickson maintains that the trial court imposed a sentence upon him that failed to comport with the jury’s verdict. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm the judgments of conviction but remand with direction that the trial court correct the scrivener’s errors contained in the sentence. “Following a criminal conviction, the defendant is no longer presumed innocent, and we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict.” Martinez v. State , 303 Ga. App. 166 692 SE2d 766 2010. So viewed, the evidence showed that in the early morning hours of September 12, 2004, Hickson, the victim, and two of the victim’s friends were standing in the parking lot of an adult strip club. Hickson and the victim were arguing with one another while the victim’s two friends watched the verbal confrontation. As the argument continued, Hickson pushed the victim, pulled out a handgun, and shot the victim in the abdomen. Hickson threw his gun away and fled from the scene. After the victim died as a result of complications from the gunshot wound, Hickson was arrested and charged with malice murder; two counts of felony murder with aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon as the underlying felonies; aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony; and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Hickson pled not guilty and claimed that the shooting was justified as an act of self-defense.
In the first trial, the jury acquitted Hickson of malice murder and of the lesser included offense of voluntary manslaughter but deadlocked on the remaining counts of the indictment. The trial court granted a mistrial on the remaining charges, and the State filed an amended indictment that removed the count for malice murder.
