A malfunctioning Cash App for a drug deal ended with a fatal shooting in Columbus
Devion Miley died from a bullet to the back with $557 and a cell phone in his pockets.
At 11 o’clock on a Saturday night, he staggered across the parking lot of the Midtown Shopping Center off Macon Road and collapsed in front of an old pita restaurant. He bled to death on the way to the hospital.
Most of his cash came from selling marijuana to Detric Bush and Zajaliq Riley, who’s now on trial for murder in Muscogee Superior Court.
Bush, 22, pleaded guilty July 25, agreeing to testify against Riley in exchange for prosecutors’ dismissing his murder charge. He pleaded to trying to commit a felony, to using a gun to commit a crime, and to having a firearm while on probation.
At the trial that started Monday, attorneys told jurors a twisted tale of the two suspects trying to buy marijuana with an app on their phones, repeatedly failing, and finally driving toward a nearby McDonald’s to get a Wi-Fi signal.
That errand was cut short when one customer paid cash, and the other killed Miley, said prosecutor Robin Anthony.
Cell phone issues
With a few deviations, the prosecutor, and Riley’s defense attorney Mike Garner, told jurors parallel stories in their opening statements Monday afternoon.
They said Bush and Riley met Miley in the parking lot at the Efficiency Lodge, 1776 Boxwood Place, a few blocks from where Miley was found shot. That’s where they were to make their transaction on May 8, 2021.
Bush paid Miley $500, using the Cash App to transfer funds from one bank account to another, but he messed up, Anthony said: Bush took the money from his girlfriend’s bank account, and he had to put it back, she said.
Bush decided to pay Miley in cash, and gave him the money, she said.
Then Riley tried to buy marijuana from Miley using the app, but the transfer didn’t go through, despite repeated attempts, the prosecutor said. So Riley, Bush and Miley got in a car to go to the McDonald’s on Macon Road to get a strong Wi-Fi signal, she said.
Riley was driving with Bush in the front passenger’s seat and Miley in the back seat behind him, she said.
She said Bush later told investigators they were on Boxwood Boulevard near Macon Road when Riley stopped and ordered Miley to get out. Miley was opening the back door when Riley pointed a pistol over the front seat, shot him in the back, and drove away, she said.
The first 911 calls from passersby finding Miley came in about five minutes after the three men left the motel, she said.
Garner said Riley maintains that he paid Miley the $500 cash, when they were unable to resolve the Cash App issue, and Miley got out of the car unharmed on Boxwood Boulevard to walk back to the Efficiency Lodge, where he had been living.
“He says, ‘That’s the last we saw of him,’” Garner said.
Garner said Miley had been in the company of other drug dealers at the extended-stay motel, and his associates started calling 911 when he didn’t return in around 90 minutes, reporting that the 20-year-old had left with armed men. “They’re all telling the story right after this happened,” he said.
Having found Miley with no identification on him, homicide investigators questioned his cohorts that night.
The first witnesses
Among those questioned was Darius Requenna, who testified in the trial Tuesday morning. Garner said he was the contact who set up the meeting between Miley and the two suspects.
Requenna said he had been living with Miley at the motel for a year or two, and recalled seeing Riley and Bush in the parking lot that evening. They talked with Miley outside for about 45 minutes and left, then came returned in about five minutes to correct the Cash App transfer, he said.
Around 15 minutes later, they left with Miley, he said: “I heard they were going to McDonald’s because everyone’s Wi-Fi was not working,” he testified.
When Miley did not return in 10 minutes, and could not be reached by phone, Requenna called 911 to report him missing, he said.
Garner asked why he reported that so quickly. “To keep each other safe,” he replied.
Garner asked why they had to keep each other safe. “Because we live in Columbus,” Requenna said.
When Requenna denied that he dealt drugs, Garner asked him why he had advertised marijuana on Facebook and Instagram.
“Stupidity,” Requenna said.
Another witness from the motel, Dominique Kelly, testified that he also saw Miley leave with Riley and Bush in a silver Honda. When Requenna told him Miley had not returned, they went looking for him, and saw the police tape marking the crime scene at the shopping center, he said.
Riley is being tried on three charges:
- Felony murder, allegedly for causing Miley’s death while committing the felony of trying to buy marijuana.
- Criminal attempt to commit a felony, for trying to buy marijuana.
- Possession of a firearm in the attempted commission of a felony.
The 22-year-old faces life in prison if convicted.
Bush’s recommended sentence, after his guilty plea, is 15 years with five to serve in prison and the rest on probation.
This story was originally published August 8, 2023 at 9:12 AM.