Fourth man headed to prison for 2013 mistaken identity killing

One of five men charged with killing David Scott in a barrage of bullets in 2013 was sentenced Tuesday to serve 17 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter.

Jalyn Trevonta Dixon testified for the prosecution in a March murder trial of codefendants Donald Rydell Fair, Christopher Deshawn Pender, Tyrecquiss Shaewaun "Shae-Shae" Wells and Christopher Don Whitaker, each accused of targeting the wrong person in a misguided scheme to rob a gambling house on Sept. 19, 2013.

They were in a stolen pickup truck en route to the gambling house when they saw Scott in a white Chevrolet Impala he’d borrowed from a cousin. Believing Scott to be the cousin, a gambler known to carry a lot of cash, they blocked the car at Seventh Street and Coolidge Avenue and got out with guns.

When Scott tried to back away, they started shooting. One of about 30 rounds they fired at the car hit Scott in the forehead, and he died later at the hospital. A passenger sitting next to him was uninjured.

Besides manslaughter, Dixon pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault and one count each of robbery, trying to commit a felony and being a convicted felon with a firearm.

Judge William Rumer sentenced Dixon to 25 years in prison with 17 to serve and the rest on probation.

During the trial, police testified four separate guns were fired at Scott, two of them 9mm pistols, one a .45-caliber handgun and the other a .223-caliber rifle that Dixon described as an AR-15.

Dixon told the court he was unarmed as he drove the stolen Ford F-150 pickup truck toward the gambling house. Armed with a 9mm with an extended clip, Wells sat beside him on the passenger’s side. Whitaker, armed with the other 9mm, sat behind the driver’s seat, he said, and Pender with the .45-caliber sat behind Wells.

Fair was in the truck bed with the AR-15, Dixon said.

He said Wells had the idea of robbing the gambling house and was giving him directions as he drove. When Wells saw the Impala stopped at a stop sign, he yelled for Dixon to stop, then got out and ran toward Scott.

Wells was wearing a black ski mask, Dixon said. When Scott put the Impala in reverse, Wells started shooting, followed by Pender, then Whitaker, and then Fair, the witness said.

Dixon could not recall how many rounds they fired. "It was a lot," he said.

Whitaker, firing the 9mm as he leaned out of the truck, accidentally shot Pender in the upper thigh, Dixon said. Pender fell to the ground, so they picked him up, put him back in the truck and sped away.

Police later were summoned to St. Francis Hospital to question Pender, who made up another story about how he was wounded.

Testimony showed Scott’s murder was part of a crime spree that began with the early morning theft of the tan Ford pickup on Sept. 16, 2013. The truck later was used in three crimes, starting with a home burglary on Cheyenne Drive, and followed by an attempted robbery and shooting on Baltic Court.

Scott’s shooting about 10:30 p.m. was the second that day involving Dixon, Pender, Wells and Whitaker. About 8 p.m., Dixon, Pender and Wells had tried to rob a marijuana dealer on Baltic Court, after Whitaker called and set the dealer up for the crime.

In that incident, Wells drove the stolen pickup while Dixon and Pender tried to rob the dealer, who was wounded as he sped away. Dixon that time had the AR-15, he said.

Dixon fell out of the pickup as Wells raced away, leaving abrasions on his abdomen. Dixon initially denied his involvement in the drug dealer’s robbery until detectives discovered his scraped-up belly.

The jury in the March trial either acquitted or deadlocked on Fair’s charges, but found the others guilty. Rumer later sentenced Wells to life in prison without parole. He sentenced Pender and Whitaker to life in prison plus five years, but with parole.

Georgia convicts sentenced to life with parole typically are eligible for release after serving 30 years.

This story was originally published December 20, 2016 at 4:40 PM with the headline "Fourth man headed to prison for 2013 mistaken identity killing."