A jury found James M. Brown guilty of burglary. Following the denial of his motion for new trial, Brown appeals, contending that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. For the following reasons, we affirm. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence showed that Brown and Johnny Josey entered the victim’s home after Brown kicked in a basement door. The two men took guns and other items from the home before fleeing. Brown and Josey led officers on a high speed chase before abandoning their car and running into Josey’s mother’s home. At trial, Brown testified that Josey led him to believe that the two were going to Josey’s father’s home, and that he assumed that the guns belonged to Josey’s father. He stated further that he panicked and led police on the high-speed chase when Josey told him that he had stolen the items from the home.
On appeal, Brown contends that his trial counsel was ineffective in two respects.To establish ineffective assistance of counsel under Strickland v. Washington , 466 U. S. 668, 687 104 SC 2052, 80 LE2d 674 1984, a criminal defendant must prove 1 that his trial counsel’s performance was deficient, and 2 that counsel’s deficiency so prejudiced his defense that a reasonable probability exists that the result of the trial would have been different but for that deficiency. A court need not determine whether trial counsel’s performance was deficient before examining the prejudice suffered by the defendant as a result of the alleged deficiency. We will not reverse a trial court’s findings regarding either the deficiency or prejudice prong of the Strickland test unless clearly erroneous.Citations, punctuation and footnotes omitted. Hayes v. State , 281 Ga. App. 749, 750-751 637 SE2d 128 2006.
