Floydzell Michael Johnson was convicted of felony murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon after he fatally shot J. B. Melton IV. Johnson and his girlfriend had stalked and confronted Melton, and Johnson claimed self-defense after firing a warning shot and then shooting Melton in the chest. The Georgia Supreme Court held that the evidence was sufficient for the jury to reject self-defense and find Johnson guilty of felony murder. Because the felony-murder count was predicated on Johnson’s possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, however, the firearm-possession conviction merged into the felony-murder conviction. The court therefore vacated that conviction and sentence while leaving the life-without-parole felony-murder judgment intact. Johnson also challenged the jury array, private questioning of potential jurors, the prosecutor’s opening statement, hearsay, other-acts evidence, a discussion of a jury question outside his presence, the justification charge, cross-examination about his plea, and the trial judge’s wording while ruling on an objection. The court rejected each challenge, finding no reversible error and no prejudice from counsel’s alleged deficiencies. The judgment was affirmed in part and vacated in part, with all justices concurring.