Quintavius Hawkins was convicted of felony murder predicated on attempted armed robbery, attempted armed robbery, and possessing a firearm during a felony after a shooting in Atlanta. The evidence showed that Hawkins joined an effort to rob a man who was selling marijuana, exchanged gunfire with him, and fled after the man was fatally shot. Hawkins challenged trial counsel’s effectiveness, the timeliness of an amended motion for new trial, and the trial court’s refusal to hold another evidentiary hearing. The Georgia Supreme Court rejected those claims and affirmed the convictions. It nevertheless corrected a sentencing error on direct review. Because the attempted armed robbery served as the predicate felony for the felony-murder conviction, the predicate offense merged into the murder conviction, and the separate sentence could not stand. The Court vacated that conviction and sentence while leaving the remaining convictions intact. All justices concurred.