Seashelia Joncamlae was found guilty by a jury of two counts of aggravated assault arising from a fight outside a restaurant. In Joncamlae v. State , 257 Ga. App. 459, 463-464 2 b 571 SE2d 461 2002, we found the evidence sufficient to support the convictions, but we remanded it to the trial court so that an evidentiary hearing could be held on whether trial counsel provided ineffective assistance. The trial court held such a hearing and entered an order finding that the second prong of the test in Strickland v. Washington , 466 U. S. 668 104 SC 2052, 80 LE2d 674 1984 had not been met. From that order, Joncamlae appeals. Because we agree with Joncamlae that the trial court erred in this finding, we reverse. The ineffective assistance claim is based on evidence that surfaced during trial. Both victims testified that on the previous day the prosecutor had shown them photographs of Joncamlae. In the trial testimony in issue, one victim had just testified on cross-examination that the day of the attack was the first time he had ever seen Joncamlae. The next question posed by defense counsel was whether this victim had seen Joncamlae or “photos or anything” after the attack but before trial. The witness replied that he had seen a picture of him the previous day at “the D.A.’s office.” Defense counsel then inquired whether the witness had seen only Joncamlae’s picture, and the witness responded that he “saw various pictures” that included Joncamlae and some others that “looked like him,” but the first time he had encountered Joncamlae in person since the attack was at trial. When asked if he was “positive” about identifying Joncamlae, the witness responded: “They look like the same people I remember. They just have a different hairdo,” adding “they have shorter hair,” as did the individual depicted in the photograph he had seen the day before.
The second victim testified that he was “not 100 percent sure” of his identification of Joncamlae as one of the men who followed him and later hit him because during the incident the man had on a hat that covered his forehead. This victim, too, testified that he had been shown pictures by the prosecutor the previous day. When asked if he identified anyone from the photos, he replied: “In the picture they looked more familiar to me” but he thought that in the photograph Joncamlae was “a little heavier than now.” He testified that the prosecutor “showed him the pictures in private” when the other victim was not there. When trial counsel pressed this victim on the identification, the witness said he could not see Joncamlae well from the witness stand, but he “seems to be the man that was there.” When asked if he thought it was the same man, the witness stated: “If he’s the same man in the picture, he’s the same man.”
