Update: Court hearing postponed after man shot to death at Double Churches

A court case connected to the man fatally shot Wednesday at Columbus’ Double Churches Park has been postponed until Aug. 2.

Demonde Donya Dicks Jr., 24, and three co-defendants who included his father, Demonde Donya Dicks Sr., were set for a 9 a.m. guilty plea today before Judge Frank Jordan Jr.

At the request of attorney Mike Garner, who represents the elder Dicks, Jordan delayed the hearing. Attorneys representing the father’s codefendants also sought the delay.

Garner said that under the plea deal previously negotiated, the son’s case was to be dismissed. Now negotiations in the father’s case have to start all over again, he said.

The son’s attorney, Stacey Jackson, also expected the younger Dicks to be cleared of the drug-related charges against him.

“My expectation was that after some of the pleas were being made on some of the other co-defendants that Demonde Donya Dicks Jr.’s case was going to be dismissed,” Jackson said Thursday. “I can’t say what sentences and pleas were going to be on the other co-defendants.”

Dicks Jr., who lived in Jonesboro, Ga., was facing charges of possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute and possession of a drug-related object, a digital scale. Khadijah Donya Embry, 21, of Cusseta, Ga., is facing identical charges.

Police said they found cocaine in a shed at the father’s 2303 Heard St. home on Jan. 30, 2015.

Dicks Sr., 41, and Shonta Nicole Dicks, 36, who also lived at 2303 Heard St., were charged with possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute, possession of drug-related objects including a scale and baggies, and possessing less than an ounce of marijuana, according to court records.

Jackson said he told Assistant District Attorney Michelle S. De Los Santos about his client’s death Thursday morning.

Garner said the father seemed overwhelmed by news of his son’s death.

“I don’t feel like I’m able to go through with it,” Garner said of the guilty plea Thursday. The priority now is getting the father temporary leave from jail to attend the son’s funeral, which had not yet been set, he said.

Garner said the criminal cases were based not only on a search of the father’s Heard Street home, but also on a confidential tip, a traffic stop and a second search of another residence.

The shooting

Dicks Jr. was shot around 3 p.m. Wednesday near the basketball courts at Double Churches Park. The death is still under investigation by Columbus police and there have been no arrests as of Thursday afternoon.

Jackson said he was contacted by one of his client’s family members not long after the shooting.

“The negotiations on these cases have been going on for several weeks,” Jackson said. “One of the things that held up the process was Mr. Dicks Sr. was in the Department of Corrections. He had to be returned from prison before the case could be resolved.”

Jackson called the homicide an unfortunate incident.

“I found him to be a smart, intelligent and nice young man,” Jackson said. “It is unfortunate he had to lose his life in such a way, especially knowing his case was going to be dismissed and it would clear his record.”

Dicks Jr. had no prior felony convictions, Jackson said.

Staff writers Ben Wright and Sarah Robinson contributed to this report.

This story was originally published June 16, 2016 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Update: Court hearing postponed after man shot to death at Double Churches."