In 2001, a Fulton County jury convicted Tyrone D. Bradley of felony murder and aggravated assault in connection with the shooting death of Terrance Allen. Bradley admits he killed the victim but claims he did so in self-defense. Bradley appeals, arguing that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support the verdict and that he received constitutionally ineffective assistance of counsel at trial. Finding no merit in these arguments, we affirm.1 1. The evidence presented at trial would have enabled a rational trier of fact to find as follows. On the morning of September 17, 1996, Tyrone D. Bradley purchased a .38 caliber handgun from a drug addict for $40, apparently because he thought it was a good deal. Shortly after noon, he carried the gun with him to a convenience store and gas station in his neighborhood. When Bradley arrived, his uncle, whom he had not seen in a while, was standing outside talking to Terrance Allen. According to Bradley, Allen had robbed him twice at gunpoint during the preceding year, and Allen was interspersing his conversation with Bradley’s uncle with raps about robbing people. Bradley exchanged pleasantries with his uncle and then went into the store to buy a bottled water. However, the line was long, so Bradley went back outside and sat on the owner’s van, which was parked near the front door. Allen and Bradley’s uncle were standing several feet away by the icebox smoking marijuana.
Bradley eventually went back into the store and purchased his bottled water. As he was coming out of the store, he pulled out his new handgun and began firing in Allen’s direction. Allen saw the gun, yelled “oh, shit,” and turned to run away, but it was too late. Bradley shot Allen four times, hitting him twice in the upper back and in his left hip and hand. One of the shots to the back went through Allen’s heart, causing his death within minutes. As Allen lay dying, Bradley fled the scene, discarding the weapon in a residential neighborhood even though it was still loaded. Bradley claimed he was afraid of Allen, that Allen was armed that day, and that he shot Allen in self-defense, but no weapon was found at the scene, and the other eyewitnesses contradicted Bradley’s account of what happened. Moreover, there were significant discrepancies between the statement Bradley gave to police a few weeks later when he was arrested and the testimony he gave on the stand at trial.
