The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday unanimously upheld the murder conviction of Terry Lamar Hubbard Jr. of LaGrange, who was sentenced to life in prison for the shooting death of 16-year-old Dazman Anderson four years ago.

Hubbard, 24, who was convicted Sept. 28, 2006, alleged judicial error and ineffective assistance of counsel in the appeal.

He said Superior Court Judge Quillian Baldwin was wrong not to strike juror Michael Jackson, a pastor who testified that he knew the victim’s family from seeing them at local churches and went to the funeral home to view the victim’s body, although no family members were present. Jackson said he could still render a fair and impartial verdict.

The Supreme Court said Baldwin was entitled to rely on the juror’s answers in determining his qualifications to serve.

Hubbard also claimed his lawyer, Tony Axam of Atlanta, botched his defense by:

n Failing to move for a change of venue due to the large amount of pre-trial publicity.

But the Supreme Court said Hubbard failed to provide any newspaper clippings, videos and such material to support his claim. Hubbard’s attorney questioned potential jurors and concluded pre-trial publicity was not a problem.

n Failing to call certain witnesses during the trial.

Axam said he interviewed every available witness and picked those he believed would best support Hubbard’s case.

“This approach was certainly reasonable,” the Supreme Court said.

One witness Axam didn’t call said unknown others in the crowd had guns on the night of the shooting, but that testimony would have been “merely duplicative of trial testimony given by other witnesses that they heard gunshots from the crowd before the shooting,” the Supreme Court said.

n Failing to recover the weapon Hubbard used the night of the incident, and failing to recover the gun allegedly fired by his sister at the scene.

Axam said he tried to find the weapons, but used their absence to argue that Hubbard’s sister could have been the actual shooter.

Accounts differ on what happened the night of Oct. 4, 2005, at Lucy Morgan Homes on Revis Street, but witnesses agreed the shooting happened in the midst of arguments and threats among Anderson, Hubbard and their family members.

Witnesses said Hubbard chased Anderson along a sidewalk and shot him in the back. The bullet went through his heart and he died at the scene.

Hubbard will be eligible for parole in about 11 years.

“At this time, my thoughts and prayers are with the family of Dazman Anderson,” said District Attorney Pete Skandalakis.

Joel Martin can be reached at jmartin@ lagrangenews .com or (706) 884-7311, Ext. 235.