Porter v. Georgia
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Appellant Thaddeus Porter was convicted of malice murder and other crimes related to the shooting death of Willie Clay. His motion for new trial was denied, and he appealed, asserting that the trial court erred by permitting the State to present evidence that a tipster was not a participant in the crimes and that trial counsel provided ineffective assistance of counsel. Because appellant raised the tipster issue for the first time on appeal, it was not preserved for appellate review. Even absent the procedural waiver, however, appellant could not show his newly asserted grounds for objection would have resulted in exclusion of the challenged testimony. The challenged testimony was limited to the findings of the detective’s investigation and did not include or make reference to out-of-court statements made to him by the tipster. Accordingly, appellant showed no prejudice and his claim of ineffective assistance based on counsel’s preparation and handling of witnesses failed. The Supreme Court affirmed Appellant's conviction.
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