MOULTRIE — The jury in the first of two related murder trials returned guilty verdicts Wednesday in an October 2006 home invasion that left one farm worker dead and wounded a second.
The seven-woman, five-man jury deliberated about an hour and a half before finding Tyrus Cornelius Carter guilty of voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, burglary, and three counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
The jury found Carter not guilty of a felony murder charge, but substituted the lesser manslaughter charge on that count in the indictment.
Superior Court Judge Jim Tunison scheduled a July 10 sentencing date for Carter, 23, whose conviction followed the guilty pleas last year of Marcus A. Stevenson and Charles Kinsey Jr., who also were accused in the Oct. 23, 2006, home invasion. During the burglary, 21-year-old Diego Diaz Gomez was fatally shot and Manuel Santos was wounded.
The re-trial of the fourth defendant in the slaying, Anthony Jerome Thompson, 22, is scheduled to start today.
On the second day of the trial Wednesday, Carter testified that he was at 1022 Fifth Ave. S.W. in the early morning hours when the home invasion occurred. He told jurors that he was armed with a .32-caliber revolver and had a mask, but that he never entered the residence or intended to take part in the robbery.
He said he carried the gun, which did not function, for protection after an incident between residents of Moultrie and Norman Park, where he lived, and that he wore the mask that night because it was cold.
The idea for the “lick” as Carter referred to a robbery, was hatched by Thompson and Kinsey at Kinsey’s residence while those two were drinking and smoking marijuana, Carter said. He and Stevenson declined to take part, but while walking heard Thompson and Kinsey call out to them, at which time they went to the 1022 Fifth St. S.W. residence where they stood outside while Thompson and Kinsey went in.
Thompson carried what Carter believed to be a .22-caliber rifle with a “banana clip,” while the other three had pistols, Carter said.
Gomez was killed by a .22-caliber bullet that struck him in the left arm and traveled through his torso.
Assistant Public Defender Jon McClure, who represented Carter, sought to have Carter’s statement to Moultrie Police Department officers tossed out before the video was played to the jury, arguing that Carter was a special education student and did not understand a waiver form he signed prior to his being questioned.
In the video, Carter initially denied knowing anything about the slaying. Later, he said that Thompson brought up the robbery of some Mexicans staying nearby, and that he was outside the house when the home invasion occurred.
Prior to the trial Carter had on two occasions entered guilty pleas to manslaughter in the case, once in 2008 and the other time earlier this year. On both occasions he withdrew those pleas.
A jury deadlocked in Thompson’s first trial in May 2008.
Kinsey and Stevenson were each sentenced to serve nine years in prison and 11 years of probation.
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