Pearson v. State

Carley, Justice.

A jury found Phillip Pearson guilty of malice murder but mentally ill, and it also returned guilty verdicts on an alternative felony murder count and on separate charges of aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Concluding that the verdict on the felony murder count was vacated by operation of law and that the aggravated assault merged as a matter of fact into the malice murder, the trial court entered judgment of conviction for that offense and imposed a life sentence. As for the possession of a firearm charge, the trial court…