Man convicted of molesting girl, 6, dies during appeal

9-22-2016 Georgia:

A life sentence became a death sentence for 64-year-old Robert “Buddy” Turner.

The Columbus man who maintained his innocence after he was sentenced to life for aggravated child molestation two years ago has died in state custody.

A sister testifying at his sentencing on Jan. 14, 2015, said she feared he would not survive an extended prison sentence. A brother-in-law told Judge William Rumer the case had turned the former construction worker into "an aging, frail, broken man.”

Defense attorneys said Turner’s health declined precipitously in prison, where he did not get the medical care he needed.

On Oct. 20, 2016, authorities brought Turner to Columbus for an Oct. 26 court hearing. As his health worsened, medical workers at the Muscogee County Jail had Turner taken to Columbus’ Midtown Medical Center, which later transferred him to a hospital in Atlanta.

Man shot in standoff with Effingham County deputies was sex offender

2-1-17 Georgia:

The man killed last week during a standoff with two Effingham County Sheriff’s Office deputies and one deputy from Bulloch County was a registered sex offender, and had been jailed in 2014 for attacking Effingham deputies during a routine compliance check.

Gary M. Wigley of Highway 119 North in southeast Bulloch County, was convicted in 1988 on charges of child molestation and cruelty to a child, according to sex offender registry records.

Wigley, 52, was scheduled to appear in Effingham County Superior Court Jan. 9, before Ogeechee Judicial Circuit Judge WiIliam Woodrum Jr., regarding yet another, more recent case, where he was charged with false imprisonment, obstruction, possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, disorderly conduct, and simple assault, according to Woodrum’s criminal bench trail calendar.

Man mistaken for child molester yells during fatal beating, ‘I have kids. It’s not me’

9-22-2016 Georgia:

While being beaten to death, mistaken for a man his alleged attackers believed had molested a young girl, Sylvester Harden Jr. screamed, “I didn’t do this. I have kids. It’s not me,” a Bibb County prosecutor said at a Thursday hearing.

Ceyunta Cater, one of three people charged with murder in Harden’s 2015 death, stood in a Bibb jail courtroom Thursday, asking a judge to lower his bond. In jail since Feb. 19, 2015, his bond had been set at $275,000.

His attorney, John Carter, said the case has been postponed from the trial calendar because he and the prosecutor assigned to the case have been “diligently working, trying to resolve” it.

Authorities have said an 11-year-old girl called family members Feb. 19, 2015, saying 30-year-old Levi Moss had showed her a pornographic video on his cellphone and molested her.

The girl’s grandmother and other family reached out to relatives in Macon, trying to find someone to go get the child.

GBI: Remains belonged to man wanted on sex crime charges

1-4-16 Georgia:

COVINGTON, Ga. — Georgia Bureau of Investigation testing has confirmed that skeletal remains found last week in Covington belong to a man who had been wanted on child pornography charges since 2011.

Covington police said in a statement Sunday that skeletal remains found Dec. 28 in Covington were positively identified as David Lee Sheffield (47) through dental records.

Federal authorities had charged Sheffield in 2011 with the production, distribution and possession of child pornography and accused Sheffield of filming a video of himself assaulting a minor boy in the 1990s.

Police say Sheffield's remains were found less than an eighth of a mile away from where Sheffield's car was found abandoned at a Covington motel in 2011. Authorities did not say how Sheffield died, but said a firearm was found nearby. ..Source.. by wsbtv.com

Prosecutor: Boy, 6 (Son of a former sex offender), Begged Killers To 'let Me Go!'

9-30-2009 Georgia:

Prosecutor: Slain 6-year-old Boy Begged Captors To 'let Me Go!' Before He Was Strangled

A 6-year-old boy (Son of a former sex offender) pleaded with his captors _ a man and his adult son _ as they stripped and sexually assaulted the child inside a mobile home before strangling him, a prosecutor told jurors Wednesday.

The comments were made during opening arguments in the trial of David Edenfield, 61, who faces the death penalty if convicted of the March 2007 slaying of Christopher Michael Barrios. The boy was missing for a week before police found his naked body dumped off a road and wrapped in trash bags.

Prosecutor John B. Johnson told jurors in his opening statement that they would learn the details of what happened to the boy "in the most horrible two hours of his life" from a taped confession Edenfield made to police.

Johnson said Edenfield and his son, 34-year-old George Edenfield, lured the boy into their trailer across the street from the home of Christopher's grandmother, stripped the boy naked and took turns molesting him.

"You will hear him say this from his own mouth," Johnson said of David Edenfield. "Christopher Barrios didn't want to be there. He said, 'Let me go! Please don't do this! I'm going to tell my parents!'"

Homicide victim once indicted for failure to register as sex offender

11-13-2014 Georgia:

The same day patrol officers found him fatally shot in the head, the Muscogee County Superior Court indicted Chad Aaron Herring of failure to register as a sex offender, according to court documents.

Wednesday's indictment came more than two years after 32-year-old Herring was arrested and charged with the offense. He was booked into the Muscogee County Jail on April 5, 2012, after he falsely reported that he lived on the 1500 block of 15th Avenue.

Herring's body was discovered around 11:47 p.m. Wednesday when officers investigated a Chevrolet Impala parked on Roosevelt Street near Brewer Elementary School, Columbus Police Lt. Consuelo Askew said Thursday morning. Askew said there was no evidence of other shots fired in the area and reported no damage to the vehicle.

Muscogee County Chief Deputy Coroner Freeman Worley said Herring was pronounced dead at 12:26 a.m. He will be transported Friday for autopsy, Worley said.

Man shot by Cobb County police after altercation

12-28-2013 Georgia:

An altercation this morning at an extended-stay hotel in Marietta ended with a man shot, according to the Cobb County Police Department.

John Allen Massey, 30, was at the Extended Stay America Hotel off of Powers Ferry Road when police officers arrived to investigate claims of a stolen motorcycle at around 10:15 a.m. While searching the parking lot, police found the motorcycle. Massey was believed to be responsible for the theft.

Two uniformed officers confronted him inside room 345 at the hotel. Massey pulled out a handgun when confronted. One of the officers, whose name has yet be released, fired a gun at Massey, resulting in fatal gunshot wounds. He died at the scene.

Both officers have been placed on administrative leave while the investigation into the shooting continues. According to Cobb Police Officer Michael Bowman, administrative leave is routine when an internal investigation begins.

Massey was a registered sex offender. According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), he was convicted in Cobb County in 2001 on a felony statutory rape charge. He was arrested in 2007 and again in 2011 for failure to update his mailing addresses after moving. Registered sex offenders in Georgia must provide their current residential address at all times, per the Georgia Department of Corrections.

Additionally, Massey was convicted of felony firearm possession and aggravated assault in Cobb County, in 2007. ..Source.. by Leigh Egan

Sex offender killed by teenage niece

10-22-2013 Georgia:

Child charged with murder, held at youth detention center

A convicted sex offender was stabbed to death by her 14-year-old niece.

Monday night, paramedics found the body of 49-year-old Shirley Elaine Mack on the kitchen floor of her small brick home on Scott Store Road just north of Midville.

She appeared to have a single stab wound to her chest.

The child accused of killing Mack had been living in the house along with four younger children.

“It appears that they got into some kind of argument and the girl got a knife and stabbed (Mack),” Sheriff Greg Coursey said, noting a 911 call was received around 8:30 p.m.

Although the child’s name has not been released, the sheriff confirmed the 14-year-old is being held at a youth detention center in Sandersville. GBI Special Agent Pat Morgan told The True Citizen she is charged with murder and possession of a knife during the commission of a crime.