Sauder v. State

Summary

The court affirmed Sauder’s convictions for armed robbery, malice murder, and the remaining firearm-possession offenses, concluding that the evidence was constitutionally and statutorily sufficient and that the asserted evidentiary, instructional, Brady, ineffective-assistance, and cumulative-error claims did not warrant a new trial. The court held that the jail-call excerpt was admissible, the jury instructions adequately conveyed the relevant legal principles, and any assumed accomplice-instruction or disclosure errors were not prejudicial. The court nevertheless vacated the conviction and sentence for firearm possession during the commission of aggravated assault because that count should have merged with the firearm-possession count predicated on malice murder.