The Georgia Supreme Court (SCOGA has affirmed a Forsyth County murder conviction and sentence handed down last year. The crimes occurred on May 17, 2023, during a workplace dispute in Cumming.
Ja’Mychael Quintrez Peavy was convicted by a Forsyth County jury of shooting and killing co-worker Hamilton Darwin.
Evidence admitted at the trial showed that the two began arguing inside their job site and that the argument spilled outside into the parking, despite other workers’ attempts to keep Darwin from following Peavy out of the building. Once outside, the two produced handguns and began firing at each other, withe Peavy hitting in a leg and shoulder and chest.
When the shooting stopped, Peavy went back inside and dropped his gun, which was picked up by a manager.
At the trial, a fellow inmate who was incarcerated with Peavy testified that Peavy told him he was tired of Darwin belittling him at the job and wanted to put an end to it.
Peavy argued justification for what he did at his trial and asserted, alternatively, that he acted in the heat of passion, such that the jury should find him guilty of the lesser offense of voluntary manslaughter.
But the high court rejected his assertion and upheld the convictions.
You can read the supreme court’s full opinion here: s26a0455