"A trial court has the discretion to grant or deny a severance in a joint trial." Ruff v. State , 314 Ga. 386, 386 (1), 877 S.E.2d 239 (2022) (citation and punctuation omitted). "In ruling on a motion to sever, a trial court should consider: (1) the likelihood of confusion of the evidence and law; (2) the possibility that evidence against one defendant may be considered against the other defendant; and (3) the presence or absence of antagonistic defenses."
[1, 2] (b) A verdict form in a criminal case is erroneous when "the form would mislead jurors of reasonable understanding, or the trial court erroneously instructed the jury on … the possible verdicts that could be returned, or how the verdict should be entered on the printed form." Ruff v. State, 314 Ga. 386, 388 (2), 877 S.E.2d 239 (2022) (citation and punctuation omitted). When determining whether there is error regarding a preprinted verdict form, the "form is treated as part of the jury instructions which are read and considered as a whole."
Because the armed robbery served as the underlying felony for the felony murder conviction on which Appellant was sentenced, the conviction and sentence for armed robbery must be vacated. See Ruff v. State, 314 Ga. 386, 389, 877 S.E.2d 239 (2022) (where a defendant is "found guilty only of felony murder, the underlying felony would certainly be deemed to have merged, as a matter of law, into the felony murder and a separate sentence for that underlying felony would not be authorized" (cleaned up)).