Fitts v. the State (two Cases)

Summary

The court affirmed Fitts’s convictions, holding that any error in admitting evidence of a later shooting was harmless and that his ineffective-assistance claims failed because the challenged statement was not testimonial, was excluded by a curative instruction, and did not show deficient performance or prejudice. The court also affirmed Franklin’s felony-murder convictions, concluding that the evidence was sufficient to show her intentional participation as a party to the crimes and declining to alter the governing sufficiency standard. It vacated Franklin’s armed-robbery and burglary convictions because those offenses should have merged into the felony-murder convictions.