Following a jury trial, Jacques Souder was convicted of hijacking a motor vehicle, OCGA § 16-5-44.1 b; armed robbery, OCGA § 16-8-41 a; possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, OCGA § 16-11-106 b; and carrying a concealed weapon, OCGA § 16-11-126 a.1 Souder appeals from the denial of his motion for new trial, contending that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence seized at the time of his arrest, failing to merge the armed robbery and hijacking a motor vehicle counts in his sentence, and denying his motion for new trial based upon inconsistencies in the victim’s testimony. He also contends that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance. For the reasons that follow, we affirm. Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict,2 the trial evidence shows that in the early morning of September 9, 2006, the victim and his grandmother were preparing for an out-of-town trip and drove their rented vehicle to a gas station to buy gas. The victim went inside to pay the cashier while his grandmother remained inside the car. When the victim returned, he saw Souder entering the car through the driver’s door. The victim confronted Souder, and Souder pulled out a handgun. When the grandmother realized what was happening, she got out of the car. The victim was holding approximately $100 in his hand and Souder ordered him to throw the money on the ground. After the victim complied, Souder picked up the money, got into the car, and drove away from the scene. The victim later called 911 and reported the carjacking and armed robbery incident.
Several days later, Souder was seen driving the victim’s stolen car and was reported to have collided with an unattended vehicle parked at an apartment complex. A City of Atlanta police officer was dispatched to the apartment complex to investigate the auto collision that had been described as a “hit-and-run.” During the course of the investigation, the officer observed visible damage to the side of the vehicle that Souder had allegedly struck and obtained information from a witness who had observed the collision. The witness pointed to Souder, who was then sitting on the porch of a nearby apartment, as the driver of the vehicle that had caused the collision. The officer ran a routine computerized tag check of the vehicle that Souder allegedly had been driving and discovered that the vehicle had been reported as stolen. After a backup officer arrived at the scene, the officers approached and arrested Souder. During a search incident to arrest, the officers recovered a handgun from the inside of Souder’s pants. The officers also recovered a set of keys found in Souder’s pocket. When the officer discharged the remote on the car key, the alarm to the stolen vehicle sounded.
