Reginald Maynor admitted shooting Marti Stegall during a neighborhood Fourth of July gathering after a long-running dispute fueled by Stegall's affair with Maynor's partner, but he claimed he acted in self-defense. On appeal, he argued that the evidence was insufficient to disprove justification and that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to cross-examine a witness more effectively and for not seeking a mistrial after an opening-statement claim went unproven at trial. The Supreme Court of Georgia affirmed. It held that the jury was entitled to reject self-defense and that Maynor failed to show deficient performance or prejudice under Strickland. The reasoning pointed to evidence that Maynor had previously threatened to kill Stegall, to the jury's authority to resolve conflicting testimony about the shooting, and to the prosecutor's good-faith basis for the challenged opening remark, which meant a mistrial motion would have failed. With no established attorney error, the cumulative-prejudice claim collapsed as well.