Following trial, a jury convicted Tamerat Martin-Argaw on four counts of aggravated assault, one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, one count of burglary, and one count of aggravated stalking. Martin-Argaw appeals his convictions and the denial of his motion for new trial, arguing that fatal variances between the indictment and the evidence introduced at trial with regard to three of the aggravated-assault counts rendered that evidence insufficient to support his conviction on those counts, and further arguing that the trial court erred in admitting similar-transaction evidence of his subsequent plot to murder two of the aggravated-assault victims. For the reasons set forth infra , we affirm. Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury’s guilty verdict,1 the evidence shows that Martin-Argaw and his wife married in 1998, but in 2003, their relationship began to deteriorate due to Martin-Argaw’s allegedly engaging in an extra-marital affair. Indeed, when confronted with this allegation, Martin-Argaw became so violent toward his wife that she called the police to intervene on several occasions. And over the next few years, Martin-Argaw and his wife’s relationship continued to spiral downward. In May 2006, Martin-Argaw’s wife obtained a temporary protective order, which prohibited him from having any direct contact with her. One month later, following a hearing, the trial court issued a six-month protective order, which prohibited Martin-Argaw from having any direct contact with his wife and further ordered that he stay away from the marital home.
On the evening of July 12, 2006, Martin-Argaw’s wife invited her friends Peter Vanderpool and Delores Elder to her home for dinner to celebrate her and Vanderpool’s recent birthdays. But not long after the three friends sat down to eat on the back deck of the house, Martin-Argaw approached the home, rushed up the stairs leading to the back deck, pulled out a pistol, and fired it at his wife and her dinner companions. As the shot was fired, Elder bravely jumped in front of Martin-Argaw’s wife, and the bullet grazed her head. Vanderpool and Martin-Argaw’s wife then quickly scrambled inside, but Martin-Argaw followed closely behind, chasing his wife as she ran toward the kitchen.
