Killers appeal convictions in mistaken identity murder of Columbus dad. What court decided
David Scott was a Columbus father of three who borrowed a cousin’s car to go to the store with a friend, back on Sept. 19, 2013.
He died from a gunshot wound to the head when a group of gunmen aiming to rob his cousin hit the car with a hail of bullets, as Scott crashed into a tree while trying to flee.
Among the suspects who went to trial in Scott’s slaying in 2016 were Christopher Pender and Christopher Whitaker, who were convicted of murder and sentenced to life with possible parole.
The Georgia Supreme Court now has rejected their appeals, and upheld each sentence.
Testimony at their trial showed Scott’s murder was part of a crime spree that began with the early morning theft of a tan Ford pickup on Sept. 16, 2013. The truck was used in three crimes, starting with a home burglary on Cheyenne Drive, and followed by an attempted robbery and shooting on Baltic Court.
On the same day Scott was killed, Whitaker called a marijuana dealer to set him up for a robbery. Pender, Tyrecquiss Wells and another suspect took the stolen pickup to meet the dealer on Baltic Court, where they rushed him with their guns drawn, and opened fire when the victim sped away, wounding him in the stomach.
Wells came up with a scheme to rob a “gambling house” on Church Avenue frequented by Scott’s cousin, who was known to carry $2,000 to $3,000 cash on him. The gunmen were on their way there when Wells saw the cousin’s Chevrolet Impala at Seventh Street and Coolidge Avenue, where Scott and his friend were on their way back from a trip to a Brown Avenue store.
The would-be robbers used the stolen truck to block the Impala’s path as they approached the car with their guns out. Scott told his friend to get down, shifted into reverse and backed into a tree as bullets riddled the car.
Scott’s friend recalled that when the shooting stopped, he was uninjured. He heard Scott ask whether he was OK, looked over and saw blood coming from Scott’s face. Scott died later at the hospital. He was 34.
He was not the only one hit in the barrage of gunfire. Pender was wounded in the buttocks, apparently by one of his accomplices. Police questioned him when he went to the hospital for treatment.
After a trial that stretched from Feb. 29 to March 16, 2016, Pender and Whitaker each were found guilty of felony murder, among other charges. Typically a convict sentenced to life with parole serves 30 years before becoming eligible for release.
Wells also was convicted in Scott’s murder, and sentenced to life without parole. The state Supreme Court upheld his conviction and sentence in January 2020.
Pender, 27, is serving his time in the Telfair State Prison in McRae-Helena, and Whitaker, 29, is in the Washington State Prison in Davisboro, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections.
This story was originally published March 15, 2021 at 2:36 PM.