Elijah Rodriguez was convicted of felony murder and numerous related offenses arising from the shooting death of Kevin Rivera. He challenged the evidence and several trial rulings. The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed most of the judgment but corrected a sentencing merger error on its own initiative. The court held that the evidence supported the convictions and rejected Rodriguez’s claims requiring a new trial. It then held that the aggravated battery against Rivera was not supported by an act independent of the conduct causing Rivera’s death. That conviction therefore merged into the felony-murder conviction for sentencing purposes. The court vacated the aggravated-battery conviction and sentence while leaving the remaining convictions and sentences intact.