Three sentenced in Blood gangster’s fatal shooting at Double Churches Road Park
Three Columbus men convicted in the June 15, 2016 robbery and homicide of Demonde Donya Dicks Jr. at Columbus’ Double Churches Road Park were sentenced Thursday.
It was a crime that shocked the city, because it happened at 3 p.m. in a popular public park where the swimming pool was crowded with parents and children, though few saw Dicks get shot through the back of the head at the basketball court nearby.
A jury on Oct. 27 returned a mixed verdict in the murder case, in which prosecutors alleged Jacquawn Clark, Derain Waller and A’keveius Powell set Dicks up to be shot and robbed after Dicks got about $40,000 in a cocaine deal.
Clark, who was found guilty only of armed robbery, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was found not guilty of malice murder, felony murder and criminal gang activity.
The jury found Waller guilty of felony murder for killing Dicks while committing the felony of armed robbery, and of armed robbery and using a gun to commit a felony. He was found not guilty of malice or intentional murder and criminal gang activity. He was sentenced to life without parole.
Powell, who was found guilty of felony murder and armed robbery, was sentenced to life with parole. He was acquitted of malice murder and criminal gang activity.
Each faced a maximum penalty of life in prison, which would mean each had to serve at least 30 years before becoming eligible for parole. Clark now is 20 years old. Waller is 26, and Powell is 22.
The prosecution’s theory was that Dicks, 24, was in the Atlanta gang “Sex Money Murder,” a subset of the Bloods, and he came to Columbus that Wednesday to make the drug deal, intending to return to Atlanta that afternoon.
He took a shuttle from the Atlanta airport to the Groome Transportation terminal on Harley Court in Columbus, where his friend Clark picked him up about 12:40 p.m.
They drove to Publix on Macon Road to get a money order, then to a Family Dollar on Floyd Road where police believe Dicks sold the cocaine and put $40,000 in his backpack. Then they picked up Waller, bought some marijuana and went to the park to smoke it.
On the way, Waller texted Powell, who was home at Walden Pond Apartments on Moon Road. Waller told him Dicks had $40,000, or “40 bands,” and added, “He a murder homie. Give me the green light.” To that Powell replied, “Green light shawty.”
At the park, Waller shot Dicks through the back of the head, and he and Clark grabbed the backpack, ran to their car and drove to Walden Pond Apartments to meet Powell.
Prosecutors alleged the three suspects also were Bloods, showing jurors photos of them wearing the Bloods’ signature red color and making gang signs with their hands.
But defense attorneys countered that simply being in a gang is not a crime: What’s against the law is committing a crime to further the gang’s interest. Three Bloods killing another Blood to steal money that already belonged to the gang made no sense, the defense argued.
Clark’s attorney was Jennifer Curry. Susan Henderson represented Powell, and partners William Kendrick and Mark Shelnutt represented Waller.
This story was originally published November 9, 2017 at 4:34 PM with the headline "Three sentenced in Blood gangster’s fatal shooting at Double Churches Road Park."