In April 1989, Warren Jones was shot and killed by one of four armed men who confronted him and his companion and stole his automobile. Jones’s companion, Jeffrey O’Neal, was accosted by two of the four perpetrators and $60 was taken from him. In November 1995, a jury returned guilty verdicts against appellant James Chapman for malice murder, felony murder aggravated assault and armed robbery being the underlying felonies in connection with the death of Jones, two counts of armed robbery, and aggravated assault of O’Neal. The trial court sentenced appellant to life imprisonment for malice murder, imposed a consecutive 20-year term of imprisonment for the armed robbery of O’Neal, and determined that the remaining convictions merged. While appellant’s motion for new trial was pending, the trial court vacated the malice murder conviction and sentence and sentenced appellant to life imprisonment for felony murder. The trial court subsequently denied appellant’s motion for new trial, and appellant filed this appeal.1
1. The surviving victim testified he and the murder victim were standing on opposite sides of the car they had just parked and exited after midnight near a Harwell Road nightclub in northwest Atlanta when four armed men surprised them. One man pointed a gun at the witness’s head while another poked him in the side with a sharp metal object and took $60 from him. The witness heard his friend being beaten by the other perpetrators as they demanded the murder victim’s car keys, but the surviving victim was not permitted to look at the other side of the car. The victim/witness testified he was led to some bushes and forced to lie down in the bushes while the four men left, and he arose to find his bloodied friend lying in the street. The deputy chief medical examiner who performed the autopsy testified the victim died from a gunshot wound to his left side and had suffered multiple blunt force trauma to his head that indicated he was below his attackers. A small caliber .22-.25 bullet was recovered from the victim’s body.
