Vann v. State

The defendant is entitled to a new trial because his counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to move to sever charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon from the remaining charges against him.

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Gregory Alfredo Vann was convicted of two counts of armed robbery, two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and one count of aggravated assault. His motion for new trial, as amended, was denied. Vann appeals, contending that he was denied effective assistance of counsel. For the reasons that follow, we agree with Vann that trial counsel was ineffective for failure to move to sever the charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. We therefore reverse the lower court’s denial of Vann’s motion for new trial. This case arises out of two armed robberies, which occurred on July 21 and August 11, 1999. The victim of the first robbery testified that at approximately 10:45 a.m., she was sitting at her desk at the driving school she owned, when a man approached and repeatedly told her to “give me the keys to them cars.” When she told the man that she did not have any keys, “he pulled out a gun, stuck it in front of my face and says, now give me a key to a car,” and he demanded that she give him her purse. He took her purse and ran out of the building. More than $3,200 was taken from the business.

On the day of the robbery, the victim told police that she could not identify the gunman. Six months later, however, she identified Vann as the perpetrator from a photographic lineup. At trial, she demonstrated some confusion as to the identity of the gunman. She first identified Vann’s codefendant as the gunman. After further questioning, during which she stated that she was nearsighted, she put her glasses on and identified Vann as the gunman.

Vann v. State

The defendant is entitled to a new trial because his counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to move to sever charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon from the remaining charges against him.

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