The appellant, James Jeffries, was convicted of the malice murder of Vanessa Sanderson, of burglary, and of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.1 On appeal, he contends, among other things, that the trial court erred in ruling against his claim that he received ineffective assistance of trial counsel. Finding no merit either to this contention or to the other contentions that Jeffries raises, we affirm.
Jeffries and the victim met in 1993. At that time, the victim had a one-year-old child from a previous relationship. After dating for a period of time, Jeffries and Sanderson moved in together. In 1997, after Jeffries was indicted for aggravated stalking, burglary, and terroristic threats based upon allegations made by the victim, Jeffries moved out of the couple’s home. By that time, the couple had a child of their own. There was evidence that on the evening of February 13, 1998, Jeffries followed the victim and a male companion with whom she had a date, driving behind them in a black Mercedes. Moreover, Latanya Branch, a neighbor of the victim, testified that at about 10:00 or 10:15 p.m., on February 15, 1998, she saw Jeffries drive by the victim’s home in a black Mercedes. She stated that he slowed down in front of the home and then drove away. At 11:30 p.m. on February 15, 1998, a next door neighbor of the victim, Anthony Dulling, heard a woman’s scream, followed by four gun shots. At 11:57 p.m., Jeffries called the victim’s cousin, and left a message on the answering machine, stating “I just want you to know whatever happened tonight . . . is . . . your and her fault . . . . I blame the whole thing on you. So you’re going to have to live with it.” At 12:01 a.m., Jeffries called the victim’s sister, and stated “I’m sorry about this, except I hate you all wouldn’t accept me in the family.” At 1:45 a.m., two neighbors who lived across the street from the victim’s house noticed that her front door was open and that the glass on her back door was shattered. They called the police when she did not respond after they called her name. The police entered the victim’s house shortly thereafter, and found the victim dead, lying at the foot of her bed. One of her children was asleep on the bed with her and the other child was asleep in another bedroom. Upon further investigation, the police learned that Jeffries had called the victim’s house on the night of her death, and that the victim had called police earlier that same day to inform them that her ex-boyfriend was threatening to kill himself and had previously threatened to kill her. The police subsequently located Jeffries’ car at his aunt’s home, where Jeffries lived. When the police arrived there, they saw a suicide note on the dashboard of Jeffries’ Mercedes. Obtaining a key from Jeffries’ aunt, police entered the residence to find Jeffries holding a gun to his chest, threatening to kill himself. After four hours of negotiations, the handgun was taken from Jeffries and he was arrested. During the standoff, Jeffries stated “my mother would rather see me dead than be in prison for what I did last night.” Forensic evidence established that the victim died from three gunshot wounds, and that the bullets that were recovered from the crime scene had been fired from the gun taken from Jeffries at the time of his arrest.
