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Sellers v. State

Defense counsel's decision not to enlarge a photograph showing only a slight injury to defendant's head was a matter of trial strategy where defendant claimed that he shot the victim in self-defense after the victim hit him in the head with a brick.

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The appellant, Frederick Sellers, appeals from his conviction for the felony murder of Keith Williams.1 On appeal, Sellers contends, among other things, that the trial court erred by giving a charge that violated the principles of Edge v. State ; that the trial court erred in ruling against his claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel; and that the trial court erred in admitting a State’s exhibit into evidence. Finding no merit to any of Sellers’s contentions, we affirm his conviction for felony murder. 1. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, we conclude that the evidence would have authorized a rational trier of fact to conclude that Sellers and the victim had an argument on the day of the crimes that began when they were attempting to sell drugs to a third person; that the argument persisted late into the evening; that Sellers pulled a gun on the victim; and that Sellers shot the victim during the course of the argument. Accordingly, the evidence is sufficient to support the felony murder conviction.2

2. Sellers contends that it violates due process to permit, as in this case, an aggravated assault against the person who was killed to serve as the underlying felony for a felony murder conviction. This prohibition against the use of aggravated assault as the underlying felony is known as the “merger doctrine,” and has been repeatedly rejected by this Court.3 We decline to depart from those holdings in this case, and thus find this enumeration of error to be without merit.

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