Suspects in a 2010 robbery that lead to the murder of a GameStop customer will not face the death penalty, according to the Rockdale Citizen. Three Atlanta men were robbing a GameStop in November of last year when the victim, 40-year-old Adrian Snow of Stone Mountain, entered the store. He was immediately shot by one of the defendants and was killed instantly. The men were later apprehended and face a litany of charges.
The men arrested were 27-year-old Giovannte Maddox, 25-year-old Tron Lamar Hill, and 17-year-old Markus Isiah Seymore. The men were charged with "malice murder," felony murder, three counts of armed robbery, two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of kidnapping, two counts of obstruction of a law enforcement officer and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. Hill faces an additional charge - possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
The three will have their first appearance in Rockdale County Superior Court on Tuesday for an arraignment hearing before Superior Court Judge David Irwin. The District Attorney's office decided not to pursue the death penalty in the case. District Attorney Richard Read said that pursuing the death penalty would be "unconstitutional" because the person they believe pulled the trigger was Seymore. Because there was only one shooter, the other two will not face the death penalty either.
"We believe the actual shooter in this case was under the age of 18, so we’re barred by the U.S. Supreme Court from presenting (capital punishment)," Read said, citing a 2005 federal case.
Source: Rockdale Citizen
Comments
Re: Atlanta GameStop Murder Suspects Will Not Face Death ...
Seriously?!? What difference does it make if he's just short of 18?
Its not like once he turns 18, he'll have this moment of enlightenment and realize,
"Man, I just turned 18 and what I'm doing is wrong, I should not kill people and rob gamestops"
Whatever, the law is fLAWed!
Re: Atlanta GameStop Murder Suspects Will Not Face Death ...
I thought minors who commit serious crimes are tried as adults. out of curiosity, isn't it possible to simply delay the death penalty until he is 18?
岩「if Phyllis Schlafly wants to undo Women's Rights, she should lead by example and get back in the kitchen」
岩「…」
Re: Atlanta GameStop Murder Suspects Will Not Face Death ...
"out of curiosity, isn't it possible to simply delay the death penalty until he is 18?"
Given that it takes years to exhaust all the appeals in a death penalty case, it's pretty much a given that he'd be over 18 by the time an actual execution took place.
Here's an article on the Supreme Court case: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62584-2005Mar1.html It looks like the offender has to be over 18 at the time the crime in order to be elligible for the death penalty.
However, felony murder's a capital offense in Georgia. Thus it seems like the prosecutor may have theoretically had the option of pursuing the death penalty against the other two. Still, that seems like it'd be an uphill battle to seek the death penalty only against the two people who didn't pull the trigger.
Re: Atlanta GameStop Murder Suspects Will Not Face Death ...
Here's to hoping that, even without the death penalty, people get the idea that these criminals are/should be punished fully and completely. I'm local to the incident and hope to see no more crimes like these.