Appellant Renaldo Tramone Phillips was found guilty of the 2002 malice murder and armed robbery of Mamadou Bah and sentenced to life imprisonment on each count, to be served consecutively.1 On appeal, he contends reversible legal error was committed during his trial and maintains he was not afforded effective assistance from defense counsel. After examining appellant’s enumerated errors, we affirm the judgment of conviction. 1. The State presented evidence that Mamadou Bah suffered fatal gunshot wounds from a bullet that entered his left upper arm, went through his left lung and his heart, and lodged in his right lung. The forensic pathologist who performed an autopsy on the body of the victim testified the fatal shot was fired from a distance of 12-24 inches. The victim was found slumped over in the front seat of his vehicle which was parked near the mailboxes of the apartment complex in which he resided. He was wearing a shirt, underwear, and socks, and his shoes were found on the parking surface outside his vehicle, at the driver’s door. Appellant’s fingerprints were found on the back door on the driver’s side of the victim’s vehicle. There was evidence that a bullet had been fired through the window of the back door on the driver’s side into the vehicle.
Appellant’s co-indictee, who had pled guilty to robbing the victim, testified that appellant drove to the co-indictee’s house on the day the victim was killed and asked the co-indictee to drive appellant in appellant’s vehicle to an apartment complex. When they arrived, the co-indictee parked at the complex’s mailboxes and appellant walked over to the victim’s vehicle as the victim was entering it and ordered the victim to “give it up.” Appellant hit the victim in the head with a gun and had the victim remove his shoes and pants. According to the co-indictee, as appellant and the co-indictee walked away from the victim, appellant turned back and fired several shots at the victim’s vehicle. The victim’s wallet was found a month later on school property located between the site of the murder and appellant’s home.
