Friday, February 9, 2024

State v. Jamaar Bracey

Decatur, Ga.- DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston announces a conviction by jury trial in the case against an Atlanta man accused of shooting and killing another man as they drove along a south DeKalb road. 

Jurors returned guilty verdicts on Thursday against Jamaar Bracey, 39, on charges of Malice Murder, two counts of Felony Murder, Aggravated Assault, Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon, and Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony stemming from an incident on February 14, 2021. 

According to the investigation, the DeKalb County Police Department and the DeKalb County Fire Rescue Department responded to a call around 12:30 p.m. about an overturned car down an embankment along Warriors Path in unincorporated Decatur.  After rescuers removed the driver, Rodney Evans, 31, from the vehicle, they discovered he had a single gunshot wound to the head.  Paramedics transported Evans to Atlanta Medical Center where he underwent treatment.  Evans, however, succumbed to his injuries on June 3, 2021. 

Investigators processed the crime scene and found four bullet casings and shattered glass in the road.  Evans’ white Chrysler Sebring had three of its four windows broken and a bullet hole was found on the front driver’s side of the car. 

Through interviews, detectives learned that Evans had been involved in a tumultuous relationship with a woman who lived on Waldrop Place, just half a mile from the scene of the crash. 

The woman had a protective order against Evans and told police that she heard an “aggressive” knock at the door of her home around 10 a.m.  She then noticed she had several missed calls and text messages from Evans.  He left without incident but returned in the early afternoon.  The woman said she saw Evans outside her house and called Defendant Bracey, who had been at the home that morning and left with their daughter.  The woman asked Defendant Bracey to come back to the house because she was scared and had left her gun in his car. 

The woman called Defendant Bracey again and he told her that he had shot at Evans but did not believe he had hit him.  Defendant Bracey claimed he shot at Evans because Evans had rolled down his window as their cars crossed paths on the road.  The woman told investigators she argued with Defendant Bracey about opening fire with their daughter in the car and that she had not seen him or heard from him since. 

Law enforcement arrested Defendant Bracey in North Carolina on March 10, 2021.  He was extradited to Georgia and booked into the DeKalb County Jail. 

Immediately following the guilty verdicts, DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Shondeana Morris, who presided over the trial, sentenced Defendant Bracey to Life Without Parole plus 15 years to serve in confinement.  Defendant Bracey is already serving a sentence of Life Without Parole plus five years for a fatal shooting in Cobb County in January 2021.  His DeKalb County sentence will run consecutively to the Cobb County sentence. 

The case, assigned to the Homicide and Gangs Unit, was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Kara Roberts with assistance from Chief Senior Assistant District Attorney Josh Geller, District Attorney Investigator J.B. Williams, and Victim Advocate Jozlyn Varnedoe.  DeKalb County Police Department Detective Kelley Hoyt led the initial investigation.