Columbus police make second arrest in Double Churches homicide case

Columbus police made a second arrest Monday afternoon in connection with June 15’s homicide at Double Churches Park.

Akeveius Powell, 21, was arrested and charged with the murder of Demonde Donya Dicks Jr., a 24-year-old man from Jonesboro, Ga.

Powell is represented by Columbus defense attorney Susan Henderson. She said she met with Powell Monday morning and arranged his surrender to the Columbus Police fugitive squad.

“He turned himself in at my office,” she said.

Powell’s arrest came hours after Jacquawn Clark, 19, pleaded not guilty to the homicide.

Derain Waller, 25, continues to have an outstanding warrant for murder.

According to testimony Monday morning in Columbus Recorder’s Court, Clark said he was at Double Churches Park Wednesday afternoon with his cousin and Demonde Donya Dicks Jr. when Dicks was gunned down.

Clark, one of three men allegedly connected with the death of the 24-year-old Jonesboro man, pleaded not guilty to murder. He was ordered held in the Muscogee County Jail without bond.

Judge Michael Cielinski bound the case over to Superior Court.

Police said they were called to the 2300 Double Churches Road park around 3 p.m. Wednesday to check on shots fired. When they arrived, they found Dicks near the basketball courts, dead from a gunshot wound to the head.

The shooting occurred behind the park’s swimming pool, and its motive may have been robbery, Maj. Gil Slouchick said Friday afternoon.

Police Sgt. Wendy Holland said Clark returned to the scene about an hour after the shooting with his mother and gave a statement to detectives. He told them that he drove Dicks and his cousin to the park to smoke marijuana when Dicks was killed, Holland testified.

Police declined to give the name of the alleged shooter.

Holland said video evidence revealed that Clark wasn’t being completely upfront about his involvement in the incident but declined to comment further.

Attorney Jennifer Curry, who represented Clark, said after the hearing that her client maintains his innocence.

“We maintain that he was not a part of any plan to harm Mr. Dicks in anyway,” Curry said. “We ask that not only the community but also the family members of the victim refrain from passing judgment until they understand all of the facts in the case.”

Dicks’ death came two days before he was scheduled to appear in Muscogee County Superior Court on drug charges.

Demonde Donya Dicks Jr. and three co-defendants who included his father, Demonde Donya Dicks Sr., were set for a 9 a.m. guilty plea Friday before Judge Frank Jordan Jr.

“We cannot find any correlation at this time,” Slouchick said when asked whether the drug charges were related to Dicks’ death.

The son’s attorney, Stacey Jackson, said on Thursday that he had expected the son to be cleared of the charges against him.

At the request of attorney Mike Garner, who represents the father, Jordan delayed the hearing. Attorneys representing the father’s codefendants also sought the delay. Jordan rescheduled the hearing for Aug. 2.

Court records show two of the suspects in the homicide have criminal records.

The only Superior Court file on Clark showed an April 26, 2015, misdemeanor simple battery case involving family violence, and it was dismissed. Clark had been accused of punching his child’s mother three times in the face.

Powell’s file showed he was arrested June 6, 2014, for violating the Georgia Controlled Substances Act by having Oxycodone, Clonazapam and Tramadol. He was sentenced this past April 18 to three years’ probation.

Besides some 2013 traffic offenses, Waller was charged May 9, 2012, with aggravated battery and first-degree child cruelty for subjecting a 3-month-old to abusive head trauma that resulted in an irreversible brain injury, according to court documents.

Authorities said the baby was airlifted to the Egleston hospital at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, where doctors diagnosed the injury. Waller pleaded guilty Oct. 13, 2015, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison with 875 days to serve and the rest on probation. He may have been released after getting credit for the time he’d already served.

Dick’s death was the 11^th homicide in Columbus this year, Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan said. It came less than a week after the June 9 shooting of Jamyah Allen at 6023 Crystal Drive. An autopsy showed the boy, 15, died of a gunshot to the chest. His death remains under investigation by police.

Late Saturday, Columbus Police were called to 406 17th Ave. for a reported shooting and found Kenneth Holloway Jr., dead from a gunshot wound. It’s the 12th homicide of the year in Columbus.

Police are looking for Torrance Terrell Menefee, a 30-year-old black male, in connection with the killing.

-Staff writers Tim Chitwood, Larry Gierer and Chuck Williams contributed to this report.

This story was originally published June 20, 2016 at 10:13 AM with the headline "Columbus police make second arrest in Double Churches homicide case."