An Atlanta man was found not guilty of 26 charges relating to a drive-by shooting that occurred in 2013, after he already spent seven years in prison awaiting trial.
Condell Benyard sat in jail for seven years awaiting his trial, due in part to the pandemic and because the courthouse flooded at some point. Late last week, he was found not guilty, Atlanta News First (ANF) reported.
At the same time, his co-defendant, Maurice Jimmerson, has spent 10 years in jail for the same charges. His trial resulted in a hung jury, meaning he will continue to be jailed while prosecutors prepare to try him again. Jimmerson is currently being held on $400,000 bail for charges that include felony murder, aggravated assault, possessing a gun during a felony, and street gang activity. He also faces another charge for destroying a toilet at the Dougherty County Jail, the Associated Press reported.
Jimmerson’s attorney, Andrew Fleischmann, said his client’s extended detention is the longest pre-trial incarceration in Georgia history, and the second longest in all of U.S. history.
“I’m old fashioned,” Fleischman said, according to ANF. “I think people should be convicted of a crime before they’re punished. This is an unprecedented case. This is about a core constitutional right, the right to a speedy trial. The right to due process. And, when you see people denied that right, the public needs to know about it.”
Fleischmann argued that the charges should be dismissed entirely, citing U.S. Supreme Court rulings that say cases can be dismissed if the defendant doesn’t receive a speedy trial.
Two other men were found not guilty in 2013 for the shooting, which killed two people and injured more, the AP reported.
Beyond the lengthy pre-trial detentions, the evidence against the men is thin. Dougherty County District Attorney Gregory Edwards told the jury that a witness told investigators he had seen Jimmerson at the shooting, but as Fleischmann countered, that witness later recanted and admitted to lying to investigators. That witness only came forward three years after the crime while serving time in prison, ANF reported. During testimony, he admitted he lied to get out of prison.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP
“No cell phone location, no DNA, no fingerprints,” Fleischman said, according to ANF, “and only one eyewitness who recanted his testimony.”
Edwards has expressed his intent to retry Jimmerson, saying he would have more time to call witnesses who could say Jimmerson committed the crime.
Fleischman says he’ll appeal the case to the Georgia Supreme Court, arguing his client’s Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial was violated.