A jury found Johnny Overstreet, Jr. guilty of seven counts of armed robbery, four counts of kidnapping, six counts of aggravated assault, three counts of burglary, twelve counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, and three counts of possession of a knife during the commission of a crime. The trial court entered judgments of conviction and denied Overstreet’s motion for a new trial. Overstreet appeals, claiming the verdict was “strongly against the weight of the evidence” and that the trial court erred in i allowing the state to present evidence of his pre-trial confession, ii refusing to conduct an inquiry into the possibility that one of the jurors may have overheard a statement made to his trial counsel, iii allowing testimony regarding his alleged involvement in robberies committed in another county, iv improperly inducing him to confess to his commission of the crimes during the sentencing hearing, and v holding that he failed to establish ineffective assistance of counsel. We find no reversible error and affirm. Construed most strongly in support of the verdict,1 the evidence shows that between March 10 and April 14, 2006, armed robberies occurred at a Church’s Chicken, Waffle King, Burger King, and two separate Wendy’s restaurants in Richmond County. The robberies all took place around midnight and were perpetrated by two masked men except for the Waffle King robbery, which was perpetrated by three masked men whom were described by many of the witnesses as wearing gloves and wielding either firearms or a knife, ordering them to either lie on the floor or to move to different locations within the store, and taking money from safes and cash registers.
The incident at Burger King, which occurred on April 14, 2006, was recorded on a surveillance videotape. That tape showed Timothy Wright, who was one of the employees present during the robbery, open the back door of the restaurant immediately before the masked men used that door to enter. In addition, other employees of the Burger King observed that Wright had acted unusually that evening and had been “always” on a cell phone, and one employee reported that one of the robbers was or might have been Israel McCain, who attended high school with Wright.
