LaJerard Shamar Jarvis appeals the denial of his motion for new trial following his convictions for felony murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in connection with the fatal shooting of Walter Richardson, Jr. Jarvis contends that his trial counsel was ineffective in various respects. Finding Jarvis’s claim of ineffectiveness of counsel to be without merit, we affirm.1 The facts construed in favor of the verdicts showed the following. On July 6, 2005, Jarvis, Anthony Franklin, Quinton Wilson, and Jerrell Banks planned to pick up a female prostitute and rob her pimp. The four rode together in Wilson’s white Chevrolet Blazer; Jarvis was armed with a “baby nine” 9 millimeter handgun and Franklin had a “two-shoot” Derringer, held together with rubber bands. Franklin arranged the services of a prostitute, but the woman refused to ride in the Blazer with the four men. Instead, she asked her friend Walter Richardson, Jr. to drive her to a nearby house for the sexual encounter; Richardson was driving a Buick belonging to the prostitute’s pimp. Jarvis and his friends followed in the Blazer to the house; both vehicles parked on the street in front of the house. Jarvis, Wilson, and Banks waited in the Blazer while Franklin and the prostitute had sex inside the house. Jarvis had earlier placed the handgun in the console of the Blazer. Jarvis took the handgun, concealed it in his pants, exited the Blazer, and approached Richardson, who was in the Buick’s driver’s seat. Jarvis asked Richardson for change for a twenty-dollar bill. Richardson responded, “f _ _ _ you” and asked “what the f _ _ _ did Jarvis want.” Jarvis “jumped back” and “just turned around and started shooting” at the unarmed Richardson because Richardson had “disrespected” him. Richardson died from a gunshot wound to his chest and abdomen. Jarvis ran back to the Blazer and left the scene, tossing the murder weapon out of the vehicle, where it was later recovered by the police. Jarvis was arrested when he went to pick up Franklin, who was cooperating with the police.
1. The evidence was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find Jarvis guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes for which he was convicted. Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U.S. 307 99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560 1979.
