Stewart v. State

Summary

The court held that Stewart failed to establish plain error from the sequential verdict form because, although the form improperly limited consideration of the lesser offense, the asserted error was not obvious beyond reasonable dispute under controlling authority. Counsel was not ineffective for failing to object because an objection would not have been objectively unreasonable under existing precedent. The court nevertheless vacated Stewart’s aggravated-assault sentence because that offense merged into the felony-murder conviction for sentencing purposes, while affirming the convictions.