NOTICE: This opinion is subject to modification resulting from motions for reconsideration under Supreme Court Rule 27, the Court’s reconsideration, and editorial revisions by the Reporter of Decisions. The version of the opinion published in the Advance Sheets for the Georgia Reports, designated as the “Final Copy,” will replace any prior version on the Court’s website and docket. A bound volume of the Georgia Reports will contain the final and official text of the opinion.
In the Supreme Court of Georgia
Decided: December 10, 2024
S24A1113. JILES v. THE STATE.
MCMILLIAN, Justice.
In March 2020, a jury found Kaylon Janard Jiles guilty of
felony murder and other crimes in connection with the shooting
death of Eris Fisher.1 On appeal, Jiles argues that (1) the trial court
committed plain error by omitting a jury instruction on the
1 Fisher was killed on November 5, 2017. On August 21, 2018, a DeKalb
County grand jury indicted Jiles and co-indictee Traquan McLeod for malice
murder (Count 1), felony murder predicated on aggravated assault (Count 2),
aggravated assault (Count 3), possession of a firearm during the commission
of a felony (Count 4), and a violation of Georgia’s Street Gang Terrorism and
Prevention Act (Count 5). McLeod entered a guilty plea to Count 1 (reduced to
voluntary manslaughter) and Counts 4 and 5 in exchange for the State’s
agreement to enter a nolle prosequi on Counts 2 and 3. At a jury trial in March
2020, the jury acquitted Jiles of malice murder and participation in criminal
street gang activity but found him guilty of the remaining counts. The trial
court sentenced Jiles to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole on Count 2 and five years in prison on Count 4, to be served consecutively; Count
3 merged into Count 2 for sentencing purposes. Jiles filed a timely motion for
new trial, which was amended by new counsel on June 22, 2023. The trial court
denied the amended motion on February 6, 2024. Jiles timely appealed, and
his case was docketed to the August 2024 term of this Court and submitted for
a decision on the briefs.
requirements for accomplice corroboration; (2) his trial counsel
rendered constitutionally ineffective assistance in several respects;
and (3) the cumulative prejudice from these combined errors
requires a reversal of his convictions. For the following reasons, we
affirm.
The evidence presented at trial showed that Fisher and his
associate, Laura Griffin, bought and sold cocaine together for
several years. In late October or early November 2017, Fisher
contacted Jiles to purchase one ounce of cocaine. On the morning of
November 5, Jiles delivered the cocaine to Fisher and Griffin at a
motel on Chamblee Tucker Road in DeKalb County, where they were
both living at the time. After Fisher and Griffin finished “cooking”
the cocaine, they realized the weight “was way off.” Fisher called
Jiles to complain that Jiles had shorted him on the cocaine, and Jiles
accused Fisher of lying.
Maryanne Crawford, Fisher’s wife, testified that she became
aware of the dispute and attempted to mediate a resolution with
Jiles, a long-time friend of hers. Jiles agreed to deliver five more
2
grams of cocaine to Fisher as a favor to Crawford. Crawford knew
that both men were angry, so she texted Jiles and offered to pick up
the cocaine and deliver it to Fisher. Jiles declined, stating that he
would meet up with Fisher and “handle it.” Crawford responded via
text, “Please don’t kill my husband, bro.” When Jiles did not arrive
by mid-afternoon, Fisher and Crawford left to run errands. While
they were still out, Fisher called a mutual friend of his and Jiles’s
and said that “he wanted war because [Jiles] didn’t show up.”
Shortly thereafter, Griffin called Fisher and told him that Jiles was
waiting for him at the motel. Fisher and Crawford then returned to
the motel.
When Fisher arrived at the motel parking lot and got out of the
car, Jiles and two other men approached him. Crawford, who
remained in the car, saw Jiles and one of the men with him shoot at
Fisher. She ducked down inside the car and then heard a car speed
out of the parking lot. Although she immediately identified Jiles as
one of the shooters, Crawford did not tell officers about the cocaine
purchase, instead offering various false motives for the shooting,
3
including that Fisher had been having a romantic relationship with
Jiles’s girlfriend. She explained at trial that she did not tell officers
about the drug deal because she “didn’t want to taint [Fisher’s]
name” and because she was worried that she would get in trouble
for her role in facilitating the drug deal. Crawford also identified one
of the men with Jiles as Traquan McLeod, whom she knew as Jiles’s
“hitter.”2 Crawford denied seeing Fisher with a gun that day.
Griffin testified that while Fisher and Crawford were out
running errands, Jiles unexpectedly appeared at the motel with two
other men and that all three men were armed, startling her. Jiles
told Griffin that he was there to meet Fisher and asked her to call
Fisher. Jiles and the other two men were standing next to Jiles’s car
in the parking lot when Fisher pulled up. Griffin watched their
interaction from the third-floor balcony, but two of her friends,
whom she knew as “Jesse” and “Little Man,” went downstairs in case
Fisher needed backup; Jesse was armed with a baseball bat, and
Little Man had a gun. Fisher got out of the car alone and slowly
2 Officers were never able to identify the third man.
4
walked toward Jiles with his hands in his pockets. Jiles and the two
men immediately faced Fisher, with all three men pointing their
guns at Fisher. Fisher told Jiles that he “just came to talk” and that
he “didn’t want any trouble.” Jiles told Fisher to get his hands out of
his pockets, and Fisher repeated that he “just came to talk.” Fisher
did not raise a gun, but Jiles shot Fisher in the head. Fisher dropped
to the ground without ever raising a weapon.3 Griffin also saw
McLeod shoot toward Jesse and Little Man, who were standing in
the breezeway. Jiles and his two companions then “sped off” in a
black four-door car. Griffin ran downstairs to try to help Fisher.
Griffin saw Crawford take money from Fisher’s pockets as he
was unresponsive on the ground. Griffin also noticed a gun laying
on the ground next to Fisher; Griffin believed that the gun must
have fallen out of Fisher’s pocket when he fell to the ground. She
wrapped the gun in a shirt and gave it to a friend to dispose of it.
3 Fisher was pronounced dead at the scene. The autopsy revealed that
Fisher had received three gunshot wounds, two to his legs and one to his head.
The fatal shot would have immediately incapacitated Fisher.
5
She then left the scene before law enforcement officers arrived
because she had an outstanding warrant for a probation violation.
Griffin admitted at trial that when she was later interviewed by
officers, she initially denied that Fisher had a gun on him that day.
She explained that she had “wanted to make sure that he had a case
without being judged for what he did” and that she was concerned
the case would “go unknown because of gang-related or because of
drugs or because of weapons.”
Responding officers located surveillance video recordings from
the scene. Those recordings showed that a total of one minute and
fifteen seconds passed from when Fisher’s vehicle entered the motel
parking lot and when a dark Dodge Charger sped out of the parking
lot. One recording showed a person standing in the parking lot when
another individual walked over and appeared to shoot him before
running to a nearby parked car. The first individual immediately
dropped to the ground where Fisher’s body was located when officers
arrived at the scene.
The fugitive task force attempted to locate Jiles and conducted
6
surveillance at locations connected to his known associates. Jiles
was eventually arrested in February 2018 when the fugitive task
force located McLeod; Jiles was with McLeod in a black Dodge
Charger owned by McLeod’s mother. At that time, Jiles had
significantly changed his hairstyle by adding extensions.
The State played several recordings of phone calls Jiles made
from jail while awaiting trial, in which he claimed that he “didn’t do
s**t” and did not understand why he had even been arrested for
Fisher’s murder. During another recorded jail call, this time made
in the middle of his trial, Jiles discussed with a friend his chances of
being found not guilty, stating, “They say [Fisher] supposedly had a
gun on him.”
Jiles testified in his own defense at trial. According to Jiles,
when Fisher called to complain that the cocaine was ten grams
short, Fisher was immediately “aggressive” and “talking crazy,” so
Jiles hung up on him. Jiles also testified, however, that when Fisher
called him back, saying, “It’s on sight when I see you,” he “kind of
laughed at [Fisher]” because he “didn’t take [Fisher’s threat]
7
seriously.” After Crawford called him, he agreed to give Fisher five
grams, but told her that he would “never do business again” with
Fisher. Jiles explained that, because Griffin “was a crackhead” and
he thought “she tampered with the drugs,” he wanted to deliver the
five grams directly to Fisher. When he called Fisher and told him he
would bring it to the motel, Fisher “made everything seem like it
was cool.”
According to Jiles, while he was waiting for Fisher at the motel,
he saw Little Man standing on the balcony with “a bulge in his
waist.” Jiles told Griffin that he did not want to wait for Fisher any
longer and started walking down the stairs with McLeod. He noticed
Little Man walking behind them but “[didn’t] pay it no mind.” When
Jiles had almost reached his car, Fisher hopped out of a car and
started acting “aggressive again,” cursing and demanding that Jiles
give him the full ten grams. Jiles noticed that Fisher had his hand
in his pants and asked him, “What you got your hands in your pants
for?” Then he saw Fisher look at Little Man, and as Jiles turned to
look, Little Man pulled out his gun and fired on Jiles. When Jiles
8
returned fire at Little Man, Fisher pulled out his gun and fired at
Jiles. Jiles then turned back toward Fisher and “fired a few shots”
at Fisher before turning back and firing more shots at Little Man
before his gun jammed. Jiles claimed he “had no other choice but to
act in self-defense.” He and McLeod then got back in their car and
took off. Jiles testified that he got rid of his gun because it had
malfunctioned while he was firing it and that he fled to New York
for two months because he “was scared for [his] life.”
1. In his first enumeration of error, Jiles asserts that, because
Crawford and Griffin were his accomplices to the murder, the trial
court committed plain error by omitting an instruction on the
requirement for accomplice corroboration and instructing the jury
that the testimony of a single witness was sufficient to establish a
fact.4
Jiles acknowledges that his trial counsel did not object to the
4 Specifically, the trial court charged the jury: “The testimony of a single
witness, if believed, is sufficient to establish a fact. Generally, there is no legal requirement of corroboration of a witness, provided that you find the evidence
to be sufficient.”
9
omission of this instruction, so we review this claim for plain error
only. See OCGA § 17-8-58; Baker v. State, 319 Ga. 456, 461 (2) (902
SE2d 645) (2024). To establish plain error, Jiles must satisfy all four
prongs of the following test:
First, there must be an error or defect — some sort of
deviation from a legal rule — that has not been
intentionally relinquished or abandoned, i.e.,
affirmatively waived, by the appellant. Second, the legal
error must be clear or obvious, rather than subject to
reasonable dispute. Third, the error must have affected
the appellant’s substantial rights, which in the ordinary
case means he must demonstrate that it affected the
outcome of the trial court proceedings. Fourth and finally,
if the above three prongs are satisfied, the appellate court
has the discretion to remedy the error — discretion which
ought to be exercised only if the error seriously affects the
fairness, integrity or public reputation of judicial
proceedings.
Baker, 319 Ga. at 461-62 (2) (citation omitted; emphasis in original).
Pretermitting whether it was clear or obvious error not to give
an accomplice corroboration charge, Jiles cannot demonstrate that
any alleged error likely affected the outcome of his trial. See Baker,
319 Ga. at 461-62 (2). Both Griffin and Crawford testified that they
did not see Fisher holding a gun at the time of the shooting. Also,
10
Jiles’s claim of self-defense is belied by his actions immediately after
the shooting – including disposing of the weapon, fleeing the state,
and changing his appearance – and by the surveillance footage
introduced at trial. And his recorded phone call from the jail during
trial suggested that Jiles was unaware, until Griffin testified at
trial, that Fisher may have been armed. See Sauder v. State, 318
Ga. 791, 806 (5) (901 SE2d 124) (2024) (“[G]iven the ample evidence
corroborating [the alleged accomplices’] testimony about the . . .
crimes, Sauder has not shown a reasonable probability that the
outcome of his trial would have been different had the jury been
instructed . . . that an accomplice’s testimony must be
corroborated.”); Whited v. State, 315 Ga. 598, 604 (2) (883 SE2d 342)
(2023) (“In other words, an accomplice-corroboration charge is not
likely to affect a jury’s verdict where evidence from the defendant’s
own lips in fact corroborated the potential accomplice testimony in
question.”).
Accordingly, Jiles cannot demonstrate plain error, and this
enumeration of error fails.
11
2. Jiles also asserts that his trial counsel rendered
constitutionally ineffective assistance in five ways. To prevail on this
claim, Jiles must establish that (1) his counsel’s performance was
deficient and (2) the deficient performance resulted in prejudice to
his defense. See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687 (III)
(104 SCt 2052, 80 LE2d 674) (1984).
To demonstrate deficient performance, Jiles must show that
his counsel “performed in an objectively unreasonable way
considering all the circumstances and in the light of prevailing
professional norms.” Ward v. State, 318 Ga. 884, 896 (3) (901 SE2d
189) (2024) (citation omitted). In evaluating counsel’s performance,
we afford a “strong presumption that counsel’s performance fell
within a wide range of reasonable professional conduct, and that
counsel’s decisions were made in the exercise of reasonable
professional judgment.” Wright v. State, 314 Ga. 355, 357 (877 SE2d
178) (2022) (citation omitted). And “decisions about trial tactics and
strategy in particular may not form the basis of an ineffectiveness
claim unless they were so patently unreasonable that no competent
12
attorney would have followed such a course.” Warren v. State, 314
Ga. 598, 602 (2) (878 SE2d 438) (2022) (citation and punctuation
omitted). To show prejudice, Jiles “must show that there is a
reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s deficiency, the result
of the trial would have been different.” Zayas v. State, 319 Ga. 402,
409 (3) (902 SE2d 583) (2024) (citation and punctuation omitted). If
Jiles fails to establish either prong of the Strickland test, we need
not address the other. See id.
(a) Jiles first asserts that his trial counsel provided ineffective
assistance because he failed to request a jury instruction on
accomplice corroboration and did not object to the single witness
instruction as given.
At a deposition taken in connection with the motion for new
trial,5 trial counsel explained that his theory of the case was that
Fisher was the primary aggressor and that Jiles acted in self5 Due to trial counsel’s schedule, the parties agreed to take the deposition
of trial counsel for purposes of the motion for new trial hearing. There does not
appear to have been any additional evidence or oral argument presented to the
trial court.
13
defense. He pursued a “Bonnie-and-Clyde analogy” to show that
Fisher and Crawford, along with Griffin, were working together to
sell drugs, “were friends of [Fisher’s],” and should not be trusted.
Counsel also testified that part of his strategy was to “discredit”
Crawford and Griffin through cross-examination and that not
asking for a charge on corroboration of accomplice testimony was
consistent with his strategy.
Based on the record before us, we cannot say that trial
counsel’s decision to portray Griffin and Crawford as Fisher’s
criminal associates – such that their testimony against Jiles should
be “discredit[ed]” – rather than as Jiles’s accomplices to Fisher’s
murder was “so patently unreasonable that no competent attorney
would have followed such a course.” Hardy v. State, 317 Ga. 736, 742
(2) (b) (893 SE2d 893) (2023) (rejecting ineffective assistance of
counsel claim where trial counsel made a tactical decision to forgo
an accomplice-corroboration instruction that would have
contradicted the defense theory). Accordingly, this claim fails.
(b) Jiles next contends that trial counsel was ineffective in
14
failing to call a witness from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation
(“GBI”) to introduce evidence of Fisher’s toxicology report. Trial
counsel had attempted to cross-examine the medical examiner about
this report, but the trial court sustained the State’s objections to that
line of questioning. 6 We are not persuaded.
After trial, the parties filed, and the trial court approved, a
“Stipulation of Fact for Appeal” pursuant to OCGA § 5-6-41 (i),7
6 The trial court sustained the objections after finding that the victim’s
toxicology results would only be relevant if Jiles also proffered evidence about
how the victim’s drug use tended to affect his behavior, relying on our holding
in Ivey v. State, 305 Ga. 156, 162-63 (2) (d) (824 SE2d 242) (2019) (Because
defendant “offered no evidence . . . about how [the victim’s] drinking affected
his behavior[,] in particular [whether the victim] acted aggressively when he
drank alcohol[,] . . . [defendant] has failed to demonstrate that the toxicology
report would have been admissible at trial.”).
7 OCGA § 5-6-41 (i) provides: “In lieu of sending up a transcript of record,
the parties may by agreement file a stipulation of the case showing how the
questions arose and were decided in the trial court, together with a sufficient
statement of facts to enable the appellate court to pass upon the questions
presented therein. Before being transmitted to the appellate court, the
stipulation shall be approved by the trial judge or the presiding judge of the
court where the case is pending.” See also Holmes v. Roberson-Holmes, 287 Ga.
358, 361 (1) (695 SE2d 586) (2010) (“Even where parties actually do agree on
the facts and execute a ‘stipulation of the case’ with a sufficient statement of
facts to enable an appellate court to pass upon the questions presented, that
stipulation must have attached the approval of the trial judge, OCGA § 5-6-41
(i), before an appellate court would be authorized to use that stipulation to
consider the enumerations of error as having been raised in the trial court in
accordance with the statements contained therein.” (emphasis in original;
cleaned up)).
15
which stipulated the following:
(1) On November 15, 2017, the Georgia Bureau of
Investigation toxicology laboratory received from
the DeKalb County Medical Examiner a sealed
package containing three tubes of blood collected
from Er[]is Fisher.
(2) The GBI gas chromatography/mass spectrometry
exam of Fisher’s blood sample showed positive
results for methamphetamine and cocaine.
On appeal, Jiles argues that the toxicology results would have
shown that drugs were present in Fisher’s blood at the time of the
confrontation and would have corroborated Jiles’s defense theory
that Fisher was the hostile, inebriated aggressor in their
confrontation. However, Jiles did not present any evidence from a
GBI toxicology expert in connection with the motion for new trial.
Moreover, no evidence was admitted at trial or at the motion for new
trial stage regarding the level of drugs detected in Fisher’s blood,
how long the drugs could have remained in his system, or whether
the drugs were in sufficiently high concentration to affect Fisher at
the time of the shooting. Nor did Jiles offer any evidence to show
that Fisher’s behavior at the time of the shooting demonstrated he
16
was under the influence of drugs or how such behavior affected
Jiles’s decision to shoot Fisher. This is the type of evidence that we
have held is required for the report to be relevant and thus
admissible. See Mondragon v. State, 304 Ga. 843, 845-46 (3) (823
SE2d 276) (2019) (toxicology report inadmissible where defendant
was unable to proffer evidence of the effect that the victim’s blood
alcohol content would have had on the victim or even the effect that
drinking alcohol had on the victim generally).
Thus, even assuming that a GBI toxicology expert would have
testified that Fisher’s blood sample showed positive results for
methamphetamine and cocaine, as stipulated to by the parties for
the purposes of this appeal, and assuming such testimony would
have been admissible, reasonable counsel could have made the
strategic decision that such testimony standing alone would not
have been particularly probative of Fisher’s actions and may not
have been admissible. See Matthews v. State, 301 Ga. 286, 289 (2)
(800 SE2d 533) (2017) (“Typically, the decision whether to present
an expert witness is a matter of trial strategy that, if reasonable,
17
will not sustain a claim of ineffective assistance.”); Mondragon, 304
Ga. at 845-46 (3). Accordingly, this ineffective assistance claim fails.
(c) Jiles also asserts that trial counsel failed to effectively crossexamine Griffin on Fisher’s response to cocaine or
methamphetamine usage and temperament while under the
influence of those drugs to support his claim of self-defense.
However, Jiles did not present any testimony at the motion for
new trial stage as to what Griffin would have testified to regarding
Fisher’s typical reaction to cocaine or methamphetamine. And, at
his motion for new trial deposition, trial counsel testified that Jiles
never claimed to have observed Fisher under the influence of drugs
before the shooting, so he did not believe it would be useful to crossexamine other witnesses about Fisher’s reaction to cocaine or
methamphetamine.
Because Jiles did not show what Griffin’s testimony would
have been about Fisher’s typical reaction to drugs or claim that Jiles
was aware that Fisher was under the influence of drugs at the time
of the shooting, Jiles cannot show that his trial counsel performed
18
unreasonably in failing to cross-examine Griffin about Fisher’s
reaction to cocaine or methamphetamine to support Jiles’s claim of
self-defense. See Gaston v. State, 307 Ga. 634, 643 (2) (d) (837 SE2d
808) (2020) (“Absent a showing that the extent of . . . crossexamination was objectively unreasonable, [appellant] cannot
establish that his trial counsel performed deficiently.”). And because
Jiles has failed to show what additional cross-examination would
have yielded on this issue, he likewise has not established prejudice
under Strickland. See Johnson v. State, 310 Ga. 685, 692 (3) (853
SE2d 635) (2021) (appellant failed to show prejudice where he
offered no evidence regarding what counsel could have elicited on
cross-examination); Clements v. State, 301 Ga. 267, 271 (3) (b) (800
SE2d 552) (2017) (“Absent any evidence to show that his counsel
acted unreasonably or that these alleged witnesses would have
provided testimony favorable to [appellant’s] defense, this ground of
ineffective assistance of counsel must also fail.”); Lupoe v. State, 284
Ga. 576, 578-79 (3) (b) (669 SE2d 133) (2008) (ineffective assistance
of counsel claim failed where appellant was unable to demonstrate
19
that the testimony would have been favorable to his defense).
(d) Jiles claims that trial counsel was ineffective by failing to
object to the trial court’s jury instruction on aggravated assault
because the instruction constructively amended Counts 2 and 3
(felony murder and the predicate felony of aggravated assault,
respectively). Count 3 of the indictment charged Jiles with
aggravated assault on the basis that he “did make an assault upon
the person of Eris Fisher with a deadly weapon, to wit: a handgun,
by shooting him with said handgun.” The trial court, however,
instructed the jury:
A person commits the offense of aggravated assault when
that person assaults another with a deadly weapon. To
constitute such an assault, actual injury to the alleged
victim need not be shown. It is only necessary that the
evidence show beyond a reasonable doubt that the
defendant attempted to cause a violent injury to the
alleged victim and/or intentionally committed an act that
placed the alleged victim in reasonable fear of
immediately receiving a violent injury.
Jiles argues that because this instruction is based on an uncharged
method of committing aggravated assault – that the defendant
“intentionally committed an act that placed the alleged victim in
20
reasonable fear of immediately receiving a violent injury” – it
improperly expanded the indictment and his trial counsel was
deficient in failing to object.
We assume without deciding that trial counsel was deficient in
failing to object to this instruction on a method of aggravated assault
not charged in the indictment. However, Jiles has not shown the
requisite prejudice. We have repeatedly explained that “charging
the jury on a method of committing a crime not charged in the
indictment does not likely affect the outcome of the proceedings
when the jury is also instructed—as it was here—that the burden of
proof rests upon the State to prove every material allegation of the
indictment and every essential element of the crime charged beyond
a reasonable doubt” and provided with a copy of the indictment
during deliberations. 8 Gude v. State, __ Ga. __, __ (1) (__ SE2d __)
8 The trial court also charged the jury on felony murder with the
underlying felony of aggravated assault as follows:
The defendant Kaylon Janard Jiles is charged in count 2 of the
indictment with the offense of felony murder, which is defined as
follows. A person commits the crime of murder when, in the
21
(S24A1356 November 5, 2024) (punctuation omitted; collecting cases
holding the same). See also id. at ___ (1) n.6 (noting that “prior
holdings on jury instruction issues that were not related to the
Evidence Code were not abrogated by the enactment of Georgia’s
current Evidence Code”).
And, as in Gude, it is highly unlikely that the jury convicted
Jiles of felony murder predicated on aggravated assault without a
finding that Jiles intended to shoot Fisher because Jiles admitted to
shooting Fisher in self-defense, a defense on which the jury was also
charged. See Gude, __ Ga. at __ (1); see also Cato v. State, 304 Ga.
commission of a felony, that person causes the death of another
human being. Under the laws of Georgia, aggravated assault is a
felony and is defined as follows. When a person assaults another
person with a deadly weapon. A firearm, when used as such, is a
deadly weapon.
If you find and believe beyond a reasonable doubt that the
defendant committed the homicide alleged in this bill of indictment
at the time the defendant was engaged in the commission of the
felony of aggravated assault, then you would be authorized to find
the defendant guilty of murder, whether the homicide was
intended or not.
A person commits aggravated assault when he assaults another
person with a deadly weapon.
22
496, 498-99 (2) (820 SE2d 41) (2018) (concluding that “the context of
the instructions made the juror confusion suggested by [appellant]
even more unlikely,” where he was “charged with felony murder, the
jury was properly instructed on felony murder, and there was no
dispute that [the victim] died as a result of being shot (not as a result
of being placed in fear)”).
Nonetheless, Jiles argues that the reversal of the appellant’s
aggravated assault conviction based on a similar charging error in
Talton v. State, 254 Ga. App. 111 (561 SE2d 139) (2002), requires
the reversal of his convictions here. This argument fails. As we
explained most recently in Gude, the facts of Talton—a ruling that
is not binding on this Court—are readily distinguishable in murder
cases such as this because the shooting victim in Talton was not
killed, the appellant was not charged with felony murder, and the
jury could have found appellant guilty of aggravated assault based
on the erroneous “reasonable fear of receiving violent injury”
instruction. See Gude, __ Ga. at __ (1). Here, on the other hand, the
jury found Jiles guilty of felony murder, which necessarily required
23
a finding that Jiles killed Fisher by shooting him, and “there was
virtually no chance that the jury based that finding on an intent to
merely place [him] in fear of being shot, rather than an intent to
shoot [him].” Id. See also Patel v. State, 278 Ga. 403, 407 (5) (603
SE2d 237) (2004) (because Patel “was charged with felony murder
predicated upon an aggravated assault[,] [i]t follows that, unlike
Talton, the jury could not convict defendant by simply showing that
he pointed a pistol at the victim; of necessity, it had to find that
defendant shot the victim”). Accordingly, Jiles cannot show
prejudice from trial counsel’s failure to object.
(e) Jiles asserts that trial counsel was deficient for failing to
raise hearsay and bolstering objections to Crawford and Griffin’s
recorded interviews with law enforcement officers. We disagree.
After Crawford and Griffin were cross-examined at trial, the
State admitted their recorded interviews to provide context to their
statements under the rule of completeness. Trial counsel testified at
his deposition that he did not object because he believed the
interviews were admissible as prior consistent statements.
24
We first note that, because the recorded interviews were the
witnesses’ own statements, Jiles cannot establish deficient
performance for failing to object on bolstering grounds. See Harmon
v. State, 319 Ga. 259, 266 (3) n.7 (903 SE2d 28) (2024) (clarifying
that “bolstering” refers to one witness vouching for the credibility of
another and explaining that there is no improper bolstering “[w]hen
a witness’s statement does not directly address the credibility of
another witness” (citations and punctuation omitted)); Jackson v.
State, 318 Ga. 393, 402 (1) (e) (897 SE2d 785) (2024) (trial counsel
not deficient for failing to make a meritless objection).
And although we question trial counsel’s assessment that the
recorded interviews were admissible as prior consistent statements
as defined by our Evidence Code, see OCGA § 24-6-613 (c), Jiles has
nonetheless failed to demonstrate deficient performance. Part of
trial counsel’s strategy was to discredit Crawford and Griffin by
pointing out the differences between their prior statements and
their trial testimony. The admission of those statements, in which
both witnesses lied repeatedly to investigators about critical details,
25
including whether Fisher was armed that evening and why the two
men were angry at each other, aided that strategy. See Sawyer v.
State, 308 Ga. 375, 385-86 (2) (c) (839 SE2d 582) (2020) (rejecting
claim of ineffective assistance where trial counsel’s decision not to
object to detective’s testimony about witness’s prior statement was
not unreasonable strategy in light of overarching defense strategy
to discredit the witness). Because this was not a patently
unreasonable strategy, this ineffective assistance claim fails. See
Moulder v. State, 317 Ga. 43, 52 (3) (b) n.14 (891 SE2d 903) (2023)
(“[W]e are not limited in our assessment of the objective
reasonableness of lawyer performance to the subjective reasons
offered by trial counsel for his conduct. If a reasonable lawyer might
have done what the actual lawyer did – whether for the same
reasons given by the actual lawyer or different reasons entirely –
the actual lawyer cannot be said to have performed in an objectively
unreasonable way.” (citation omitted)).
3. Lastly, Jiles maintains that the cumulative prejudice from
the combined trial court errors and trial counsel’s ineffective
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assistance requires a reversal of his convictions. We are not
convinced. “To demonstrate cumulative prejudice that warrants a
new trial, [Jiles] must show that at least two errors were committed
in the course of the trial; and considered together along with the
entire record, the multiple errors so infected the jury’s deliberation
that they denied [Jiles] a fundamentally fair trial.” Henderson v.
State, 318 Ga. 752, 759 (3) (900 SE2d 596) (2024) (citation and
punctuation omitted).
Although we have presumed error in Divisions 1 and 2 (d), it is
highly probable that the combined effect of the trial court’s
instructional error and trial counsel’s failure to object to an
instructional error did not contribute to the verdict. As we noted in
Division 1, even if we assume that it was clear or obvious error to
fail to give an accomplice corroboration charge, the testimony of
Griffin and Crawford was sufficiently corroborated. And, as shown
in Division 2 (d), Jiles’s ineffective assistance claim on this ground
pertains only to a single incorrect definition of aggravated assault
that was elsewhere corrected by the trial court, and it was highly
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unlikely that the jury found Jiles guilty of felony murder without
finding that he intended to shoot Fisher. Thus, even assuming
without deciding that it is appropriate to cumulate the errors from
a trial court’s failure to give a specific jury instruction and an
ineffective assistance of counsel claim, see Park v. State, 314 Ga.
733, 745 (4) (879 SE2d 400) (2022) (noting we have yet to decide how
multiple standards for assessing prejudice may interact under
cumulative review for different types of errors), Jiles has not shown
that these presumed errors likely affected the outcome of his trial.
See id. (concluding appellant’s claims of cumulative prejudice failed
under even the higher standard implicated by the alleged errors).
Judgment affirmed. All the Justices concur.
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