Melton, Chief Justice. Following an August 6-10, 2018 jury trial, Tommy Lee Morris was convicted of felony murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in connection with the shooting death of Tony Foster.[1] On appeal, Morris contends only that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support his convictions.[2] We affirm. When evaluating the sufficiency of evidence, “the relevant question is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime[s] beyond a reasonable doubt.” (Citation and emphasis omitted.) Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307, 319 (III) (B) (99 SCt 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979). On appeal, “this Court does not re-weigh the evidence or resolve conflicts in testimony, but instead defers to the jury’s assessment of the weight and credibility of the evidence.” (Citation omitted.) Curinton v. State, 283 Ga. 226, 228 (657 SE2d 824) (2008). Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence presented at trial reveals that, on March 5, 2017, Foster went with Morris’s estranged wife, Vernita, to a club called the Blue Moon. Morris, a convicted felon,[3] was already at the Blue Moon when Vernita and Foster arrived, and his car was in the parking lot. Vernita was romantically involved with Foster, and Morris and Foster had argued a number of times in the past about Foster’s relationship with Vernita. Morris approached Foster and Vernita inside the Blue Moon, put his arm around Vernita, and thanked her for what she had done to support their children. Foster and Morris did not speak to each other at that time, but Morris told Vernita that he was going to go outside to take off his jacket. Vernita told Foster not to go, because she feared that Morris would “shoot the place up.” Nevertheless, Foster exited the club, followed by Vernita and Morris. Once outside, Foster told a friend who was also at the club that he was going to “straighten this [out with Morris]” because Foster “ felt disrespected.” Morris then said to Foster, “Hold up, wait right there; I got something for your a**,” as he went to his car to retrieve an SAR-1 rifle. After retrieving the rifle from his car, Morris said to the unarmed Foster, “Who you think you f**king with?” and opened fire on him at close range in front of several witnesses. Foster fell to the ground, and seemed “lifeless” after the first shot, but Morris continued shooting Foster while he was lying face down. In the end, Morris shot Foster at least 19 times, killing him, with four shots being delivered to the back of his head after he had fallen to the ground and several others being delivered to his back while he remained on the ground. At trial, Morris admitted shooting Foster but claimed that he had done so in self-defense. The evidence presented was more than sufficient for a rational jury to reject Morris’s theory of self-defense and find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes for which he was convicted. See, e.g., Walker v. State, 306 Ga. 44 (2) (829 SE2d 121) (2019) (Overwhelming evidence authorized the jury to reject self-defense theory and find the defendant guilty of murder where the defendant shot the victim in the back while she was trying to get away from him and the defendant “continued to brutally stab her to death after she had fallen as a result of being shot.”). Judgment affirmed. All the Justices concur, except Warren, J., not participating.
