Grand jury re-indicts Jaquan Willis in fatal shooting

Published 8:51 pm Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Jaquan Willis.

MOULTRIE, Ga. — A Moultrie teenager whose June murder trial ended with a hung jury has been re-indicted in the killing of a woman who was fatally shot on a Sunday afternoon in a park.

After nearly three days of hearing evidence in the case, 11 of the 12 jurors in the initial trial voted to convict Jaquan Willis in the murder of Fatisha Clark. Clark, 33, was struck in the abdomen while at Ryce Community Center in Northwest Moultrie with two of her three children.

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Willis, who was 16 at the time of the shooting and 17 at the time of his first trial, is accused of firing some six shots from a pistol on March 6, 2016, as the car in which he was a passenger was leaving the park.

After jurors deliberated for part of one day and all of a second, Superior Court Judge Brian McDaniel, the trial judge, dismissed them.

The initial jury did reach a unanimous decision on less-serious charges including aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, but the mistrial brought about by the hung jury on the murder charge wiped out that decision.

The new indictment includes the same charges as the first — felony murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime — and was among the cases made public on Monday.

Testimony during the first trial indicated that Demarlon Lewis, who was driving the red Kia from which shots were fired, had an earlier altercation the same day with another teen-ager on Second Avenue Northwest. The 15-year-old teen who confronted Lewis reportedly pointed a gun at his head, according to the testimony of several witnesses.

Into that scene 25-year-old Alden Roberts Jr. intervened to set up a fight between Lewis and a friend pitted against two opponents who were present at the incident on Second Avenue.

The four opponents agreed to meet at the park at the Ryce Center for the confrontation. Between those events, Lewis picked up Willis, who witnesses testified came armed with a pistol.

Prior to Willis’ trial Roberts, who initially was charged with two felony counts of false statements and writings and four misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, entered a guilty plea. Roberts pleaded guilty to two counts of obstruction by hindering, both misdemeanor charges, and four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was sentenced to 26 weekends in jail, a total of 72 months’ probation, fines of $1,800 and 40 hours of community service.

Ja Michael Simpson and Billy Rushing, both 17 at the time of the 2016 events, were involved in the fight at the park and were sentenced in Colquitt County State Court to serve 12 months’ probation and 120 hours of community service after they pleaded guilty to affray charges.

The 15-year-old who reportedly pointed the gun at Lewis was the fourth person involved in the fight, according to testimony in the first trial, and he was charged with aggravated assault and affray.

Following the altercation between the teens at the park police were dispatched at 4:25 p.m. on the day of the shooting to the area of Shaw Gym. When they arrived in the area they found that Clark had been shot in the park.

Clark was pronounced dead about two hours later at Colquitt Regional Medical Center.

While Willis, born in January 2000, was a juvenile at the time of the shooting, murder is among the felony crimes — dubbed the “seven deadly sins” — under Georgia law for which the cases of juveniles ages 13-16 automatically are moved to a Superior Court venue. That means they are tried as adults for those crimes.

The weapon used in the shooting was not recovered and neither was the bullet that struck Clark and exited her body.

As of mid-afternoon on Wednesday Willis had not been booked on the new charges.