Columbus murder case ends with one plea, charges dropped against three other suspects
Authorities had charged four people with murder in the December 2018 shooting of Jaquan Jermaine “Droopy” Harris on Columbus’ Dunwoody Drive.
On Wednesday, one of those suspects pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Muscogee Superior Court, and all charges against the other three were dropped.
It was an outcome one defense attorney said his law partner saw coming years ago, when the partner argued their client only was present when Harris was shot, and should not have been charged.
The plea
Defense attorneys said the suspects had been breaking into cars the night of Dec. 27, 2018, when in two vehicles they drove to Dunwoody Drive around 2:30 a.m. to visit a woman they knew.
When they arrived, Harris came out with a gun and started an argument that escalated to an exchange of gunfire with Davontay Marquis Wiskow, the suspects said. Wiskow mortally wounded Harris, 19, who died later at the hospital, they said.
In October 2020, a grand jury indicted Wiskow and his associates on charges of murder, aggravated assault, and using a gun to commit a crime, in Harris’ death, and on other felonies related to the vehicle thefts and break-ins.
On Wednesday, Wiskow stood with defense attorney Michael Eddings before Judge Arthur Smith III and pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter while his other charges were dropped.
Smith sentenced Wiskow, 22, to serve seven years in prison. Arrested in January 2019, Wiskow will get credit for the time he already has spent in jail.
Charges dropped
These are the suspects whose charges were dismissed:
- Derrick Dion Ford, 22, represented by attorney Anthony Johnson.
- Jaquavis Donell Richardson, 20, represented by partners Mark Shelnutt and William Kendrick.
- Benjamin Pritchett, 19, represented by Robert Wadkins Jr.
After Wednesday’s hearing, Wadkins said Pritchett was only 15 in December 2018, and spent 22 months in jail, missing his high school years.
Shelnutt, who represented Richardson on Wednesday, said law partner William Kendrick had predicted Richardson’s murder charge would not stand back in 2019, when Richardson had a hearing in Columbus Recorder’s Court.
Kendrick argued then that Richardson merely was present when Harris was shot, and a person’s “mere presence” at a crime scene is not sufficient to warrant charges, under the law.
“Presence doesn’t make a murderer,” Kendrick told reporters outside Recorder’s Court on Jan. 16, 2019.
Outside Superior Court on Wednesday, Shelnutt said the outcome proves Richardson should not have spent the past few years in the Muscogee County Jail.
“He’s been in jail for three-and-a-half years,” Shelnutt said.
Referring to a Ledger-Enquirer report on Richardson’s 2019 preliminary hearing, he added, “My partner Mr. Kendrick at that time had argued furiously that there was not any evidence that he was involved in this. He was just present at the scene, and he’s maintained that position the whole time.”
Investigators in 2019 alleged Richardson stole the .45-caliber Glock pistol used to shoot Harris. The pistol was taken from a deputy sheriff’s private vehicle in the 5000 block of Abbott Avenue the day before Harris was shot, police said.
Besides murder and assault, the 2020 indictment accused the four suspects of breaking into a Jeep Grand Cherokee and a Chevrolet Colorado, and of stealing a Chevrolet Traverse and a Honda CRV, all on the same day Harris was shot.