After a jury trial, Derrick Jones was found guilty of malice murder, two alternative counts of felony murder, and two separate counts which charged the underlying felonies of aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The felony murder counts stood vacated by operation of law, and the trial court merged the aggravated assault and firearm possession counts into the malice murder. See Malcolm v. State , 263 Ga. 369, 371-374 4, 5 434 SE2d 479 1993. The trial court entered judgment of conviction for the remaining count of malice murder and sentenced Jones to life imprisonment. A motion for new trial was denied, and he appeals.1 1. Construed most strongly in support of the verdicts, the evidence shows that the victim owed money to Jones and that they fought over the debt. According to eyewitness testimony, someone handed Jones a handgun, the victim fled on foot, and Jones used a white automobile to chase him. Jones located the victim, fatally shot him in the head, and fled. Jones contends that two of the State’s eyewitnesses were convicted felons, that a detective threatened to charge one of them with the murder, and that there were various inconsistencies in their testimony and other evidence. ” ‘However, resolving evidentiary conflicts and inconsistencies, and assessing witness credibility, are the province of the factfinder, not this Court. Cit.’ Cit.” Givens v. State , 273 Ga. 818, 819 1 546 SE2d 509 2001. The evidence was sufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find Jones guilty of malice murder beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U.S. 307 99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560 1979; Wright v. State , 276 Ga. 419, 420 1 577 SE2d 782 2003; Baldwin v. State , 263 Ga. 524, 526 2 435 SE2d 926 1993.
2. Jones urges that his trial attorney rendered ineffective assistance in two instances. See Strickland v. Washington , 466 U. S. 668 104 SC 2052, 80 LE2d 674 1984. The burden was on Jones under Strickland to prove that counsel’s performance was deficient and that the deficiency prejudiced his defense. Cits. An appellate court will uphold a trial court’s findings of fact on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel unless those findings are clearly erroneous; we review the trial court’s legal conclusions de novo. Cit. Hudson v. State , 277 Ga. 581, 584 4 591 SE2d 807 2004.
