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L to r: Attorney Richard Darden, defendant Melvin Browder, attorney Maurice Josephs, defendant Jerry Downey, and attorney Bill Cox.
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Victim Eboni Galloway died in April 2008 from a gunshot wound.
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by Michelle Wolf
“I’m sorry for what happened, and we should be punished, but I was a good friend of Eboni’s. If I knew that she was out there that night, it wouldn’t have gone down the way it did,” Jerry Downey told the court before he and Melvin Jacob Browder of Reidsville were sentenced to a minimum of 35 years in prison.
Both Downey and Browder were found guilty of six charges, including Malice Murder, in the shooting death of Eboni Galloway, age 18, on Thursday, April 10, 2008. The shooting occurred at 10 p.m. that evening at the intersection of MLK Jr. Drive and Taylor Lane in the Burns Village Housing area in Glennville, while Eboni was with her friends, Meagan Johnson and Allen Michael McNeal. Eboni died on Sunday, April 20, 2008.
The jury trial began on Monday, October 26, and final arguments were made the next afternoon. By 6 p.m. on Tuesday, October 27, the jurors had reached the verdict, “guilty on all counts,” and the sentencing phase began.
Superior Court Judge David Cavender sentenced Downey, who has a prior felony conviction in Tattnall County for a 2006 charge of sale of a controlled substance, to the same sentence as Browder. Each received life in prison for the Malice Murder conviction, which in the state of Georgia equals 30 years before they can be considered for parole. In addition, the offenders were sentenced to twenty years on two separate counts in the indictment, which they will serve concurrently to the life sentences, and five years in prison, which they will serve consecutively to the life sentences.
Browder’s attorney, Richard Darden, and Downey’s attorneys, Maurice Josephs and Bill Cox, had requested that all sentences run consecutively. Tattnall County Assistant District Attorney Joe Skeens, who prosecuted the case, requested that the sentence for count four in the indictment, the aggravated assault against Meagan Johnson, be served consecutively, because of the emotional toil she has suffered because of the attack. Judge Cavender decided to sentence the defendants to serve the aggravated assault charges concurrently.
“They planned it together and they executed that plan together. It was premeditated and cold blooded murder,” Skeens told the jurors during closing remarks.
After the trial ended, Eboni Galloway’s family tearfully hugged and thanked Assistant District Attorney Skeens and his staff, and several of the Tattnall County Sheriff’s Deputies for their work on the case.
“We’re glad this is over and that justice is done. We have no ill feelings towards the defendants or their families. Hopefully, the rivalry between Reidsville and Glennville is over. We’re glad justice was done for Eboni. We appreciate everyone’s support and hard work in bringing this case to a close. We want to thank everyone who was involved in the investigation and the court system, and the community as a whole for their love and support,” was the statement given by the family of Eboni Galloway.
The defense attorneys have 30 days to file a notice of appeal or a motion for a new trial.
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