One suspect pleads, second is expected to as Columbus murder trial nears
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One or four suspects has pleaded guilty in a 2019 fatal shooting in midtown Columbus, and a second is expected to as the case heads to trial this June.
While pleading to reduced charges Monday in the Aug. 1 slaying of 21-year-old Jaylin Jaquan Williams, Gerald Wayne Reed III gave a detailed account alleging how he, Christian Desean Patrick and Jordan Jamal Seldon conspired to rob Williams, and how Reed’s girlfriend Anna Elizabeth Stecenko became involved after the shooting.
Stecenko is expected to plead guilty Tuesday before Superior Court Judge John Martin, who has rescheduled the trial for June 13, having had to postpone it from this week because of witness scheduling conflicts and ballistics evidence yet to be tested by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Reed had been charged with two counts of murder, but prosecutors dropped those as he pleaded to aggravated assault and to using a gun to commit a crime. The 24-year-old faces up to 25 years in prison, but his sentencing has not be scheduled.
As part of his plea deal, Reed agreed to testify for the prosecution.
What he said happened
Under questioning by assistant district attorney Breanna Foster, Reed recounted his version of events the day Williams was gunned down outside his home on Wallace Drive, in Columbus’ Lindsey Creek neighborhood.
Reed said Stecenko dropped him off at a home on Schatulga Road to meet with Patrick and Seldon, “to get some money.” He said Patrick and Seldon had robbed Williams two weeks earlier, and planned to do it again, though Reed warned them their scheme might not work because of the commotion they would cause.
They got into Patrick’s silver Hyundai with Seldon driving and parked near Williams’ home, he said. Each suspect was armed with a handgun as they approached Williams’ residence from the rear, but they discovered when they got there that Williams was sitting out on the front porch, he said.
Williams saw Reed approaching, pulled out a pistol and started shooting, Reed said, so Reed shot back and ran.
He was wearing slippers that came off as he fled, so he went back to look for them, but Seldon and Patrick were shooting, and he feared being caught in a crossfire, he said. He could hear Williams yelling before Seldon and Patrick fled, leaving Reed without a ride, he said.
He found a vacant house, discarded his .45-caliber Glock pistol, and doffed the camouflage outerwear he had on, he said. Wearing a tank top, shorts and socks, he then wandered the neighborhood trying to find a ride, prompting neighbors to call the police, he said.
Soon six police officers approached him, noted that he was shoeless and that they had found his footwear at the crime scene, and detained him for questioning, he said.
Later he was released, and he and Stecenko went back, found his gun and decided to hide it, he testified.
He said Stecenko ordered a replacement barrel, so any bullets or cartridges from the shooting could not be traced to the weapon. They buried the gun near a home belonging to Stecenko’s mother, and Reed put the old gun barrel atop a refrigerator in the mother’s house, he said.
He said Stecenko later threw the barrel away, though police since have recovered both the gun and the extra barrel.
Like Reed and Stecenko, Patrick and Seldon, both 23, were indicted this past April on charges of malice or intentional murder, on felony murder for allegedly causing Williams’ death while committing the felony of aggravated assault, on aggravated assault, and on using a gun to commit a crime.
Were they convicted on the murder charges, they would face a maximum penalty of life in prison.
For her role in allegedly hiding Reed’s gun, Stecenko, 23, was indicted also for tampering with evidence, court records show.