Georgia Supreme Court rules on Columbus man’s appeal of life sentence for killing father of 3
Tyrecquiss Shaewaun “Shae Shae” Wells was the chief instigator of the mayhem that in September 2013 killed one Columbus man and wounded another in two separate robberies before Wells led police on a car chase that reached speeds up to 125 mph.
Three years later he was convicted of multiple charges and sentenced to life without parole for the murder of David Scott, a 34-year-old father of three killed in a barrage of gunfire during a robbery intended to target another man whose car Scott had borrowed.
Besides the murder, the second shooting and the police chase, Wells also was implicated in the theft of a Ford pickup truck he and his accomplices used before it was found abandoned and in flames in the east Columbus neighborhood where they grew up.
Wells appealed last year to the Georgia Supreme Court, which decided unanimously Monday that he will remain in prison as it affirmed his conviction and sentence.
Now 28, Wells was among five suspects accused of shooting Scott around 10:30 p.m. Sept. 19, 2013, at Seventh Street and Coolidge Avenue, where the gunmen used a stolen 2003 Ford F-150 pickup to block the Chevrolet Impala that Scott had borrowed from Bryant “Diamond Earl” Early, a gambler known to carry a lot of cash.
Confronted by armed men ordering him to get out, Scott threw the Impala into reverse to try to get away, but backed into a tree as the gunmen opened fire. Scott died in the hospital from a bullet fragment that hit him in the forehead. A front-seat passenger was unharmed.
It was the second shooting that day involving Wells and three of his codefendants, who in the same stolen truck earlier had robbed a marijuana dealer who was wounded as he tried to drive away.
After Scott’s shooting, the stolen pickup was found in flames at Bayberry Drive and Buena Vista Road, an area Wells and his cohorts knew well, authorities said.
Five days later, police trying to capture Wells had to chase him across town, with Wells nearly crashing into a school bus as he fled in his girlfriend’s car, which he later abandoned as he ran from officers.
The appeal
Sentenced to life in prison on March 25, 2016, Wells challenged his conviction on the grounds that he didn’t understand his rights before he agreed to speak with police, that statements from a codefendant should not have been admitted at his trial, and that his defense counsel was ineffective.
The court rejected all of those arguments, noting that Wells’ police statement was recorded on video, which showed he acknowledged that he understood his rights; that the codefendant testified to his police statement at Wells’ trial; and that his attorney’s trial strategy was not unreasonable.
Besides Wells, codefendants Christopher Deshawn Pender and Christopher Don Whitaker were convicted and sentenced to life plus five years in prison for Scott’s death, though they remained eligible for parole.
A fourth defendant, Jaylin Trevonta Dixon, made a deal to testify against Wells and plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter. He later was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
A fifth suspect, Donald Rydell Fair, was not convicted on his charges, as the jury deadlocked on some and acquitted him of others.