Moultrie gang trial: 2 life terms

Published 8:34 am Friday, June 1, 2012

Four of five defendants accused of committing a series of violent crimes in 2009 and 2010 as part of a southeast Moultrie gang were found guilty Thursday in Colquitt County Superior Court.

After the verdict was returned Thursday morning, two of the men convicted in separate felony murder cases received life sentences.

Retired Dougherty County Superior Court Loring Gray sentenced Tobias Demere Thomas, 24, to a life sentence plus 10 years in the April 25, 2009, shooting death and robbery of Bernardino Perez, 41. Perez was gunned down that night at a mobile home park on Sardis Church Road where he had gone to visit friends.

Thomas also was found guilty on all counts relating to the shooting of two men in a home invasion on Circle Road. In all, the jury found him guilty on 48 counts and not guilty on an additional 16.

Gray sentenced Demetrius Tyshaun Daniels, 20, to a life sentence plus five years in a gun battle at Shy Manor Apartments that left 26-year-old Alvin Hunt dead. The charges in that case against Thomas were dismissed by Gray. Thomas was found not guilty on all charges connected with the assault on Myers.

Only one of the five, Willie Clyde Hightower Jr., was found not guilty on all counts.

Hightower was accused in the July 20, 2010, shooting and robbery of Jimmy Myers in his parents’ 11th Court Southeast residence. Myers, who was shot six times, survived.

Prosecutors said that the five were part of a group that committed the violent crimes while they were members of a gang known variously as Forrest Hill Boyz, FHB or “So Icy.” The 80-count indictment originally charged 11 people in the crimes, which also included the July 9, 2010, armed robbery of Winn Dixie and an April, 25,2009, home invasion robbery on Circle Road in which two men were shot.

Four of the original defendants pleaded guilty prior to the beginning of the trial, at which time they cleared Danny D. Hill who had been charged in the Winn Dixie robbery. Nyneson S. Jeudy, who also was indicted in the 2009 assaults, was separated from the trial due to his attorney becoming ill prior to the trial.

Not all of the defendants were indicted in all of the counts, and Thomas, Daniels and Robert Lee Fuller were the only ones among those on trial the past two weeks who were charged with murder.

In the indictment, each charge of murder, armed robbery, firearms possession, etc., included a charge of violation of the Georgia Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act that corresponded with the underlying charges.

Of the two remaining defendants, the jury of two black women, three white men and seven white women found Fuller not guilty on seven of eight counts, including Hunt’s murder.

He was found guilty on a single count of aggravated assault connected with the shooting at Shy Manor.

Gray said that since this was Fuller’s third felony conviction he was required by state law to impose the maximum penalty — 20 years. However 15 years of that sentence are to be served on probation.

During Fuller’s sentencing, as family members were escorting his mother who was crying loudly, a man yelled, “That’s bull—-” toward the judge.

A group of about eight deputies and plainclothes investigators rushed outside into the hallway to subdue the man, who was identified later by Sheriff Al Whittington as Homer Lee Peterson. Peterson, 39, 226 Seventh St. N.W., was sentenced to serve 12 hours by Gray in that incident on a contempt of court charge.

Fuller’s previous felony convictions were on drug charges.

Hightower was found not guilty on a felony murder charge, two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and four counts of violating the gang statute.

Randarious Lamar Perry was found guilty on all eight counts connected with the Winn Dixie robbery. That included four counts of violating the gang statute, armed robbery, aggravated assault and two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. He was sentenced to 10 years for armed robbery and an additional five years for possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, plus 15 additional years on probabtion.

After sentencing, Assistant District Attorney Brian McDaniel said the guilty verdicts should give others notice.

“We hope it sends a message that gangs won’t be tolerated,” he said.

McDaniel said he felt jurors did a good job listening to the complex case, taking “copious notes” and deliberating on the evidence.

“They did what they were asked to do,” he said. “They found one not guilty. They abided by their oaths.”

Hahira attorney Greg Wolinski, who represented Hightower, said he thought jurors reached a fair verdict.

“I think they pretty much got it right,” he said, commenting on the entire trial.

A video provided to defense attorneys on April 28 showed that Hill, who was jailed for more than a year, was not involved in the Winn Dixie case, he said, as Hill is heavy-set and all of the masked robbers in the video were thin.

Hightower fits that build, but Wolinski said he feels that prosecution witness Dontavious Reashaed Jackson substituted Hightower’s name to protect one of Jackson’s brothers.

“Mr. Hightower is certainly not what his family would like him to be, (but) he’s certainly not into robbing people, shooting people,” Wolinski said.

Public defender Jon McClure, who represented Thomas, said he will appeal the verdict. As it stands now under the sentence imposed, Thomas likely is looking at serving 40 years before being considered for parole.

“We’ll do a motion for a new trial,” he said. “I think there are grounds for appeal.”