Jurors say they can’t reach verdict in alleged Peachtree Mall gang slaying

After a day of deliberations interrupted by a 90-minute lunch break and about 20 minutes of taking shelter during a tornado warning, jurors weighing the case against three alleged gang members charged in last year’s fatal shooting at Peachtree Mall had yet to reach a verdict Thursday.

They began about 9:30 a.m., took a lunch break at 11:30 a.m., returned at 1 p.m. and took cover from the storm about 1:30. At 5 p.m., they sent a note to Judge Frank Jordan Jr. saying they could not reach a unanimous decision on the charges, and one juror was refusing to participate.

Jordan instructed them to continue their deliberations, but then adjourned for the day at 5:30 p.m. Deliberations are to resume at 9 a.m. Friday.

Also Thursday, the jury by request watched a replay of mall security video prosecutors say shows the three defendants meeting in the parking lot before Anthony Meredith’s shooting, then running away afterward. A portion of the footage shows Meredith falling as he’s repeatedly shot.

Authorities allege the three are in the Crips street gang. They’re accused of shooting Meredith 10 times outside the mall’s food court entrance about 7:30 p.m. on March 26, 2016, the Saturday before Easter.

On trial are alleged triggerman Xzavaien Trevon Jones, 19; his sister Tekoa Chantrell Young, 24; and Terell Raquez McFarland, 26.

Prosecutors say the three targeted Meredith, 24, because they blamed him for the Nov. 21, 2015, fatal shooting of Young’s boyfriend Christopher Twitty, the father of her child. Twitty also was in the Crips, investigators said.

Meredith’s girlfriend Shanna Douglas last week testified that she, Young, Meredith, McFarland and Twitty all knew each other from Hardaway High School, where Young got to be her “best friend.” She said Meredith and Twitty later had a dispute over Meredith’s fronting Twitty some marijuana, for which Twitty never paid.

During closing arguments Wednesday, Chief Assistant District Attorney Al Whitaker told jurors a cycle of violence ensued after Twitty took Meredith’s marijuana in August 2015: Later someone shot up Twitty’s home and television set, then on the following Oct. 29, Meredith was shot in the jaw and spent three weeks in the hospital, and then three days after Meredith was released, Twitty fatally was shot during a home invasion.

Because Twitty was a senior member of the Crips, his associates had to avenge his death, and they chose a public place “to send a message to all of us,” said Assistant District Attorney Pete Temesgen, adding the message was, “They are not average criminals.”

He and Al Whitaker outlined their evidence:

• Mall security cameras recorded Young pacing back and forth in the mall parking lot as she tracked Meredith before Jones and McFarland arrived and the three together walked toward Meredith. Cameras also showed Meredith being gunned down and the three running away, with Jones and McFarland nearly causing a collision as they sped away.

• A friend of Meredith’s, Devon Wynn, saw the shooting. He recognized Jones and had Jones’ Facebook page on his smartphone to show police when they arrived.

• Though Jones and McFarland denied they were at the mall, cell phone records showed their communications went through the nearest transmission tower at 2944 Warm Springs Road.

• Douglas, Meredith’s girlfriend, identified Young and Jones from the mall security video.

McFarland’s attorney Nancy Miller told jurors no eyewitness identified McFarland, and authorities implicated him in the homicide only because he admitted to police that he was associated with the Crips.

Jones’ attorney Tim Flournoy told jurors the witness who identified his client was so frightened by the gunfire that he didn’t have time to recognize Jones, so the prosecution’s case was based on mistaken identity.

Young’s attorney William Kendrick acknowledged Young as present during the shooting, but denied she orchestrated it. Mere presence is not evidence of guilt, he said.

Each defendant is charged with malice or intentional murder, felony murder for allegedly killing Meredith while committing the felony of aggravated assault, aggravated assault and gang violence. Jones is charged also with using a firearm to commit a felony.

This story was originally published April 27, 2017 at 5:55 PM with the headline "Jurors say they can’t reach verdict in alleged Peachtree Mall gang slaying."