Columbus man will spend life in prison after fatal shooting during crack cocaine dispute
A downtown Columbus drug dealer who fatally shot his sister-in-law’s boyfriend over a crack cocaine dispute will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Demetrius Johnson was sentenced to life without parole Thursday for the June 18, 2018, slaying of Jermaine Williams, who was shot on Third Avenue near Sixth Street.
Trial testimony showed that Williams, who dealt drugs with Johnson’s sister-in-law, Erica Streeter, outside a house in the 500 block of Third Avenue, had confronted Johnson that day over a batch of crack cocaine Williams thought had been ruined.
The two first faced off on the street after Williams flagged Johnson down. Johnson had his little girl in the car with him, so he left to drop her off at some apartments nearby and circled back. Johnson got out of his car with a handgun and shot Williams as Williams tried to run away.
Testifying Thursday during Johnson’s sentencing, Williams’ parents noted Johnson didn’t have to return to renew the conflict once he had driven off.
“Didn’t nobody win in this,” Williams’ father, John Williams, told Superior Court Judge Maureen Gottfried. He turned to Johnson and asked, “Why did you shoot my son when you didn’t have to?”
Said Williams’ mother, Linda Pearson: “He came back to take my son’s life, and he didn’t have to do that.”
Tears came to her eyes as she remembered that, shortly before he was killed, her son had called and promised to visit. “When he took my son, it’s like he took my life, too,” she said of Johnson. “All I know is, I miss my son, and I wish he were here.”
Williams was 26 years old. When Johnson shot him in the left thigh, the bullet pierced his femoral artery, and he bled to death.
Johnson testified in his own defense during his trial in December and claimed Williams had a gun concealed in his shorts. Johnson claimed that the gun snagged in Williams’ clothing as he tried to pull it out, and Johnson shot first to defend himself.
Jurors did not accept that, and found him guilty of felony murder, based on his killing Williams while committing the felony of aggravated assault. They found him guilty also of aggravated assault and using a gun to commit a crime.
Because Johnson had prior felony convictions, Georgia law required that he be sentenced to life without parole.
Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Schwartz told Gottfried that the courts must show that gun violence has consequences, as hardly a day passes in Columbus without news of another fatal shooting.
“It has simply got to stop,” she said, later adding, “We must send word out to the community that we won’t put up with this.”
As Gottfried announced the sentence, she recalled what Williams’ father had told the court:
“Nobody wins in this case,” she said. “He’s absolutely right.”
Gun violence on the rise in Columbus
The father repeated that, as he spoke outside the courtroom, after the sentencing.
“The bottom line is just like we said, it’s a no-win situation,” he said. “I lost my boy. Now he done lost his life, to life without parole in prison.”
Like Schwartz, he lamented Columbus’ rise in gun violence. The city had a record 70 homicides in 2021, 63 of them involving guns. It has had two so far this year.
“All I could tell the young folks is, put the guns down, and pick up a Bible,” he said. “That’s all I could tell them.”
He refuted Johnson’s claim that his son had a gun.
“That was totally a lie, because like five months before that, I talked my son into selling that gun,” he said. “My son didn’t have no gun on him when he shot him.”
Johnson’s attorney, William Kendrick, said he believes that Williams was armed, and that Johnson can appeal the verdict based on his claim of self-defense.
Kendrick said the evidence showed Johnson regularly supplied crack to Streeter, his wife’s sister, who with Williams sold it on the street.
The dispute arose because Streeter bought powdered cocaine from Johnson, instead of crack, tried to “cook” the crack herself, and fouled the drug, the attorney said.
Williams believed that Johnson had sold them the ruined crack, and that provoked the ensuing confrontation, Kendrick said.
This story was originally published February 3, 2022 at 1:32 PM.