It only took a Spalding County jury less than 15 minutes to convict Jerico Bernard Williams, 24, of one count of armed robbery, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of false imprisonment and two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felon.
He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole plus twenty years.
The sentencing comes after Williams, Tierra Davis, 28, Demarcus Timmons, 22, all of Atlanta, and an uncaptured fourth suspect went to a Dollar General on Jackson Road in Griffin to commit an armed robbery.
The incident occurred on June 4, 2023.
According to the Spalding County deputies, Davis drove the getaway car, Timmons served as the lookout, while the fourth suspect grabbed the cashier, forcing her to open the cash register.
The Spalding County District Attorney’s Office said Williams pointed a gun at a mother and her children who were checking out and then held the victim at gunpoint until his friend got the money from the register.
The robbery was caught on store surveillance video. No shots were fired during the robbery, according to deputies.
A concerned citizen witnessed the three suspects walking inside the store and leaving in the getaway car. She was the key to solving the case as she was able to report the suspect’s vehicle to 911.
A Locust Grove police officer eventually spotted the car and tried to stop it. The car then pulled into a driveway, and two of the passengers ran into a nearby wooded area.
Three suspects were later caught. One suspect has not yet been caught.
“We will not tolerate violent crime against innocent citizens in Spalding County or the Griffin Judicial Circuit,” District Attorney Marie Broder said.
Williams had previously been convicted of hijacking, two counts of armed robbery, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in Fulton County in October 2018 where he was sentenced to serve seven years in prison and six of probation to follow his incarceration.
Davis is charged with armed robbery and driving with a suspended license. Timmons is charged with armed robbery, false imprisonment and kidnapping.
Davis and Timmons are awaiting their trials.
“Around here there are a lot of people that are armed if they need to go out at that time of night. I don’t know how these guys do it in Atlanta, but robbing a store around here with customers inside at that time of night is a stupid thing for someone to try. The suspects are lucky that they had the opportunity to be captured and not the opportunity to be autopsied,” Spalding County Sheriff Darrell Dix said.
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