Clayton County Cases

Case Number: 2007 CR 02100-09

Crime: This trial occurred in March of 2008. The Defendant was the head of a local Brown Side Locos Gang. He and his friends were getting gas at a local gas station when they ran into an acquaintance that they knew. During that exchange, the Defendant felt that he was disrespected, in front of his friends, by the acquaintance. The Defendant and his friends chased the acquaintance, by car, into a local subdivision, and shot him to death in his car. The challenge here was getting the Defendant’s fellow gang members to testify against him.

Charges:
Ct. 1 – Terroristic Threats
Ct. 2 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 3 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 4 – Felony Murder
Ct. 5 – Malice Murder

Verdict and Sentence: Convicted of Malice Murder. Sentenced to Life Without the Possibility of Parole.

Articles: Gang affiliation cited as key to murder motive (March 26, 2008)
Suspected gang member guilty of murder (March 27, 2008)

Case Number: 2006 CR 01590-09

Crime: This jury trial occurred in April of 2008. A father and a son were upset when they purchased marijuana from a dealer, and believed that he stiffed them the amount that they purchased. They came back to the dealer’s apartment later that same night, removed the victim’s girlfriend from the apartment, and then shot the victim dealer to death in his kitchen. This became legally complicated in that we tried both of these co-defendants’ together, and they both made statements that implicated the other.

Charges: As to Anthony Ramsey Smith
Ct. 1 – Murder
Ct. 2 – Felony Murder
Ct. 3 – Felony Murder
Ct. 4 – Felony Murder
Ct. 5 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 6 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 7 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 8 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 9 – Burglary
Ct. 10 – Armed Robbery
Ct. 11 – Possession of a Weapon
Ct. 13- Possesion of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon

As to Anthony Willie Ashe
Ct. 1 – Murder
Ct. 2 – Felony Murder
Ct. 3 – Felony Murder
Ct. 4 – Felony Murder
Ct. 5 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 6 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 7 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 8 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 9 – Burglary
Ct. 10 – Armed Robbery
Ct. 11 – Possession of a Weapon
Ct. 12 – Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon

Verdict and Sentence: Both Smith and Ashe were convicted of the Felony Murder charges, and the other associated charges. They were each sentenced to a life sentence.

Articles:
• Police testify against father, son in murder trial (April 17, 2008)
• Final arguments made in father, son murder trial (April 20, 2008)
• Father, son found guilty of murder (April 21, 2008)
• Man sentenced in murder trial (April 23, 2008)

Case Number: 2006 CR 00933-08

Crime: This jury trial occurred in January of 2010. This was also a former death penalty case where the Defendant broke into his ex-girlfriend’s house and stabbed her and her new boyfriend to death. From the crime scene, it appeared that the Defendant stabbed the new boyfriend to death first, then followed his ex-girlfriend upstairs, and murdered her in front of a neighbor’s front door as she was in the processing of seeking help. This case also involved careful and painstaking handle of the DNA evidence and the crime scene evidence.

Charges:
Ct. 1 – Malice Murder
Ct. 2 – Felony Murder
Ct. 3 – Malice Murder
Ct. 4 – Felony Murder
Ct. 5 – Burglary
Ct. 6 – Burglary
Ct. 7 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 8 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 9 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 10 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 11 – Possession of a Weapon During the Commission of a Crime
Ct. 12 – Possession of a Weapon During the Commission of a Crime
Ct. 13 – Criminal Trespass
Ct. 14 – Simple Battery – Family Violence

Verdict and Sentences: Defendant pled guilty half-way through trial to two counts of Malice Murder, sentenced to two separate life without the possibility of parole sentences, to run consecutively

Articles:
• 'If I can't have you, no one else can' (Jan 27, 2010)
• Clayton man gets life in double homicide (January 27, 2010)
• Double-murder trial halted, defendant pleads guilty (January 27, 2010)

Case Number: 2006 CR 00933-08

Crime: This Defendant was infatuated with an exotic dancer who he visited at a local club. One night he followed her home in a jealous rage. He drove her car off the rode, and shot her and her cousin to death. The dancer was about 18 weeks pregnant when she died. A witness who was sitting in the back seat was also shot, but survived.

Charges:
Ct. 1 – Malice Murder
Ct. 2 – Felony Murder
Ct. 3 – Malice Murder
Ct. 4 – Felony Murder
Ct. 5 – Burglary
Ct. 6- Burglary
Ct. 7 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 8 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 9 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 10 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 11 – Possession of a Weapon During the Commission of a Crime
Ct. 12 – Possession of a Weapon During the Commission of a Crime
Ct. 13 – Criminal Trespass
Ct. 14 – Simple Battery – Family Violence

Verdict and Sentence: Prior to trial, the Defendant pled guilty to two separate counts of malice murder, and was sentenced to two separate sentences of life without the possibility of parole, to run consecutively

Articles:
• Life in prison for man who killed pregnant dancer, friend (February 11, 2010)
• Man pleads guilty in double-murder case (February 12, 2010)

Case Number: 2009 CR 873-05

Crime: This trial occurred in March of 2010. This was a cold case of a rape of an exotic dancer in a parking lot in 2004. The case was unsolved for many years until the DNA that was extracted from the victim matched a similar rape case of an exotic dancer in Ohio. The Defendant’s DNA matched both rape cases. While the similarity of both cases proved very powerful, this was a legally challenging case, in that our rape kit from the 2004 Georgia rape case was missing, and we had the added burden of finding witnesses from the more recent Ohio rape case.

Charges:
Count 1: Kidnapping
Count 2: Aggravated Assault with Intent to Rape
Count 3: Rape

Verdict and Sentence:
Defendant found guilty of the Rape, and sentenced to life in prison, to run consecutive to any other sentence.

Articles:
• Man gets life in 2004 rape case

Case Number: 2006 CR 02031-05

Crime: This trial occurred in April of 2010. This was a very high profile, former death penalty case, where a husband stabbed his wife (they were both in the process of getting a divorce) and her new boyfriend to death, in their sleep. The medical examiner estimated that they were stabbed, together, approximately 150 times. The challenge of this case was carefully piecing together the DNA evidence, and systematically working through an absolutely horrendous crime scene.

Charges:
Ct. 1 – Malice Murder
Ct. 2 – Malice Murder
Ct. 3 – Felony Murder
Ct. 4 – Felony Murder
Ct. 5 – Felony Murder
Ct. 6 – Felony Murder
Ct. 7 – Felony Murder
Ct. 8 – Felony Murder
Ct. 9 – Felony Murder
Ct. 10. Felony Murder
Ct. 11 – Burglary
Ct. 12 – Possession of a Weapon During the Commission of a Crime
Ct. 13 – Possession of a Weapon During the Commission of a Crime

Verdict and Sentence: Convicted of Malice Murder charges and weapons charges, sentenced to two separate terms of life without the possibility of parole, to run consecutive to each other.

Articles:
• Man on trial in double murder (Apr 22, 2010)
• Man convicted in Clayton double murder (Apr 23, 2010)

Case Number: 2006 CR 01077-09

Crime: This trial occurred in June of 2010. This was a former death penalty case where the Defendant broke his wife’s neck with a sledge-hammer and shot her cousin to death with a pistol. The wife invited her cousin to stay with her because of the Defendant’s increasingly erratic and wild behavior. That behavior continued not only through the murder, but then the trial itself, when the Defendant represented himself, and in closing arguments wanted to hold the sledge hammer to act out his version of what happened.

Charges: :
Ct. 1 – Malice Murder
Ct. 2 – Felony Murder
Ct. 3 – Malice Murder
Ct. 4 – Felony Murder
Ct. 5 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 6 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 7 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 8 – Possession of a Weapon During the Commission of a Crime
Ct. 9 – Possession of a Weapon During the Commission of a Crime

Verdict and Sentence: Convicted of two counts of malice murder, and sentenced to two separate terms of life without the possibility of parole, to run consecutively

Articles:
• Jonesboro man gets 'life' in double murder (June 23, 2010)

Case Number: 2006 CR 01077-09

Crime: This trial occurred in August, 2010. One Sunday summer morning, a woman was out walking her neighborhood for exercise. The Defendant approached her, dragged her down a hill, and attempted to rape her in broad daylight. She fought him off, and injured him. Police were later able to identify him from blood that he left on her shirt. Police also discovered that he was involved in at least three other rapes, one when he was a juvenile, and two others that he was acquitted for.

Charges: :
Ct. 1 – Aggravated Assault with Intent to Rape
Ct. 2 – Criminal Attempt – Rape
Ct. 3 – Kidnapping
Ct. 4 – False Imprisonment
Ct. 5 – Simple Battery
Ct. 6 – Simple Assault

Verdict and Sentence: Defendant guilty of the Aggravated Assault with Intent to Rape and False Imprisonment Charges, sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Case Number: 2010 CR 1232-05

Crime:This trial occurred in October, 2011. This was a murder, kidnapping and attempted murder case where the Defendant lured a Hispanic male into an apartment breezeway, and in a botched armed robbery, shot the Hispanic male in the neck. The only eye-witness to that murder – the Defendant’s girlfriend – he kidnapped and held against her will. He drove her to south Georgia where he attempted to murder her – shooting her in her face. Miraculously, she survived, and was capable of testifying both about the shooting of the Hispanic male, and about the Defendant’s attempted murder of her.

Charges:
Ct. 1 – Malice Murder
Ct. 2 – Felony Murder
Ct. 3 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 4 – Malice Murder
Ct. 5 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 6 – Malice Murder
Ct. 7 – Aggravated Battery
Ct. 8 – Possession of a Weapon During the Commission of a Crime
Ct. 9 – Human Trafficking
Ct. 10 – Kidnapping
Ct. 11 – Attempted Murder of a Witness

Verdict and Sentence:Defendant convicted of the Murder and related charges, sentence to life in prison

Articles:
• Detective testifies in murder trial (October 5, 2011)
• Jury convicts man in 2008 murder (October 10, 2011)

Case Number: 2011CR01327 09

Crime: This trial occurred in January of 2012. The Defendant, enraged because his girlfriend wouldn’t speak to him during his late-night shift at Walmart, waited up for her to return from work. When in fact she did return, he pushed her into the bathtub, doused her in gasoline, and set her on fire. She had third degree burns on large portions of her body, including her back, her chest, and her legs. After multiple skin grafts, she did survive, and was able to testify about this horrendous night.

Charges:
Ct. 1 – Aggravated Battery
Ct. 2 – Aggravated Battery
Ct. 3 – Aggravated Battery
Ct. 4 – Aggravated Battery
Ct. 5 – Aggravated Battery
Ct. 6 – Aggravated Battery
Ct. 7 – Aggravated Battery
Ct. 8 – Aggravated Battery
Ct. 9 – Aggravated Battery
Ct. 10 – Kidnapping
Ct. 11 – False Imprisonment
Ct. 12 – Attempt to Murder
Ct. 13 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 14 – Criminal Damage to Property
Ct. 15 – Obstructing an Officer
Ct. 16 – Possession of Marijuana
Verdict and Sentence: Convicted of all of these counts, sentenced to 45 years in prison

Articles:
• Jury deliberates case of woman burned alive (January 26, 2012)
• Man found guilty of burning ex alive (January 26, 2012)

Case Number: 2012 CR 1435-06

Crime:This trial occurred in April of 2012. In July of 2010, this victim went mysteriously missing from her apartment in Riverdale, Georgia. When police investigated in August of 2010, they found blood located on the floorboards under some carpet in her apartment. The police found the missing girlfriend stuffed into a tote bin, near the wood-line of a cemetery, having melted in the sweltering Atlanta heat. Ultimately, the Defendant was interviewed, and confessed to fighting with his girlfriend, and choking her, but not killing her.

Charges:
Ct. 1 – Voluntary Manslaughter
Ct. 2 – Voluntary Manslaughter
Ct. 3 – Felony Murder
Ct. 4 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 5 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 6 – Concealing the Death of Another
Ct. 7 – Concealing the Death of Another
Ct. 8 – Concealing the Death of Another
Ct. 9 – Tampering with Evidence
Ct. 10 – False Statements

Verdict and Sentence: Found guilty of the Voluntary Manslaughter and related charges; sentenced to 30 years in prison

Article:
• Defendant pins killing on girlfriend
• College Park man guilty of girlfriend’s death

Case Number: 2011 CR 2075-09

Crime: This trial occurred in March of 2013. A jealous teenage boyfriend lures his teenage girlfriend out into a wooded area, and shoots her once in her chest. Through a careful review of the ballistics evidence, and piecing together what other neighbors in the area describe hearing, we were able to demonstrate that this was a murder and a botched suicide.

Charges:
Ct. 1 – Malice Murder
Ct. 2 – Felony Murder
Ct. 3 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 4 – False Statements
Ct. 5 – Tampering with Evidence
Ct. 6 – Possession of a Weapon by a Person Under 18 Years of Age
Ct. 7 – Possession of a Weapon During a Crime

Verdict and Sentence:Defendant convicted of Malice Murder, sentence to life in prison.

Articles:
• Teen shot girl with gun given by neighbor, say police (Feb. 24, 2013)
• Witnesses testify suspect threatened to kill girlfriend (Feb. 25, 2013)
• Prosecutors: Clayton teen accused of killing ex-girlfriend 'dark and brooding' (Feb. 26, 2013)
• Friends say teen murder suspect made previous threats (Feb. 26, 2013)
• Doctor testifies about girl's autopsy (Feb. 27, 2013)
• Prosecution: Teen tried to kill self after shooting ex-girlfriend (Feb. 28, 2013)
• Clayton prosecutors: 'Murder worked, suicide failed' in case against teen (Feb. 28, 2013)
• Clayton teen found guilty of murdering ex-girlfriend (March 1, 2013)

Case Number: 2012 CR 142506

Crime:This trial occurred in April of 2013. In April of 2010, a teenage girl went missing from her home. Her remains were found six months later, in November of 2010, when scrappers searching for abandoned metal found what was left of her in nearby wooded area. The teenager’s mother came across a diary describing an attempted rape that occurred four months prior to her becoming missing – in January of 2010 – and it was from that diary that the police developed a suspect, made an arrest, and secured a partial confession from the Defendant.

In the spring of 2022, this trial was made into a single episode on the Discovery Channel. The Season is titled, “If I Should Die,” and the particular episode involving this case, episode one, is titled, “The Truth in the Diary.”
https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/the-truth-in-the-diary/1001020099/

Charges:
Ct. 1 – Malice Murder
Ct. 2 – Felony Murder
Ct. 3 – Involuntary Manslaughter
Ct. 4 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 5 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 6 – Concealing the Death of Another
Ct. 7 – Concealing the Death of a Another

Verdict and Sentence: Guilty of Malice Murder and related counts, sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

Articles:
• Murder trial begins for suspect ID'd by diary
• Mother testifies: about finding diary entry that led to the suspect
• Suspect told police he 'might have blacked out'
• Girl's diary entry read in court
• Hickman guilty of girl's murder
• Clayton man ID'd in girl's diary found guilty in her death
• Man found guilty of murdering teenage girl
• Hickman gets life without parole in teen's murder

Case Number: 2011 CR 1943-09

Crime: This jury trial occurred in April of 2013. This is the case of a forcible rape by a teenage boy involving a much younger girl.

Charges:
Ct. 1 - Child Molestation
Ct. 2 – Sexual Battery of a Child Under 16 Years Old
Ct. 3 – Child Molestation
Ct. 4 – Aggravated Child Molestation
Ct. 5 – Statutory Rape
Ct. 6 - Rape

Verdict and Sentence: Guilty of the Sexual Battery to a Child Under 16 Years Old; Sentenced to 5 years in prison

Articles:
• Teenager takes stand in defense of child sex charges
• Teenager gets five years in sexual assault of girl, 11

Case Number: 2012 CR 2292-09

Crime: This jury trial occurred in June of 2013. This was a domestic violence case that involved not just a charged victim, but also involved the introduction of multiple other victims who had been hurt by the Defendant in the past.

Charges:
Ct. 1 – Battery – Family Violence
Ct. 2 – Aggravated Assault
Ct. 3 – False Imprisonment
Ct. 4 – Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon

Verdict and Sentence:
Convicted of everything but the firearm’s charge, sentenced to 15 years in prison.