Author: Kristen Kitchens

Several individuals appeared before Judge Andy Spivey this week for bonds hearings on pending charges, with only two defendants, Shedrick King and Quanda Standifer, having their motions approved. King, according to a copy of an arrest warrant, was adjudicated guilty in 1997, at the age of 18, on one count of purchase, possession, manufacture, distribution, or sale of marijuana, which led to a felony conviction. In Georgia, any person convicted of a felony is prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm and can face a prison sentence of 5 years if found guilty of the offense. …

A former Coffee Correctional Facility inmate is headed back to prison after he returned to the facility shortly after his release and threw a book bag containing contraband, some of which were weapons, over the fence for another inmate to retrieve. Anthony Derek Franklin Jr. pleaded guilty to the charges on Thursday morning, with the judge sending him back to the place he just couldn’t seem to leave behind. According to the Georgia Department of Corrections website, Franklin Jr. was serving a 3-year prison sentence for a possession of methamphetamine conviction in Columbia County between the dates of…

The Douglas Police Department arrested Antonio Reynolds II for allegedly shooting at a vehicle and residence on Lonnie Street and Roper Street on Halloween 2021. According to a copy of a Douglas Police Department incident report, around 10:03 p.m. that night a corporal with the agency responded to Jet Foods 855 on Bowens Mill Road Southwest to meet with a 23-year-old man from Douglas regarding a shooting. The man told the officer that he was driving east down Roper Street to meet a friend and heard several gunshots. After realizing his vehicle had not been struck by a…

Jared Highsmith is back in the Coffee County Jail after allegedly committing yet another TPO violation against his ex-girlfriend. At the time Highsmith reportedly committed the offense, he was serving weekends in jail for a previous violation of the no-contact order. According to a copy of a Douglas Police Department incident report, on September 1, an officer responded to a local business on Shirley Avenue about a violation of a TPO. When the officer arrived, he spoke to the caller, who identified herself as the victim’s sister. The witness told the officer she was traveling east…

On Friday morning, the Office of Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire announced the arrest of 33-year-old Jesse Floyd, of Broxton, who was charged with arson in the first degree following a fire that occurred last weekend. According to a copy of Floyd’s arrest warrant, he is being accused of setting fire to a structure listed at 450 West Ocmulgee Street in Broxton. The release from the Georgia State Fire Marshal’s office reported that the fire began around 7:19 p.m. and caused severe damage to the 910-square-foot structure at the address. The warrant also states that…

A Coffee Correctional inmate, Joshua Dustin Carnes, who was charged with murder in January for a death that occurred in the prison, has filed a motion claiming the act was justified in self-defense. Carnes was recently released from prison but is now being held in the Coffee County Jail awaiting an evidentiary hearing this month when the judge will hear his motion for immunity. Carnes was indicted by a Coffee County grand jury earlier this year on one count of malice murder in the death of 42-year-old Hendricks Riley Gunn, another inmate held in the facility at the…

A Bulloch County jury has reached a verdict in the trial of Marc Wilson, a man with connections to Douglas who was facing life in the 2020 shooting death of a 17-year-old in Statesboro. Wilson was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter but acquitted on charges of murder and two other charges. Wilson, a biracial 23-year-old, was charged a few weeks after the shooting occurred, which resulted in the death of Haley Hutcheson, a white female from Reidsville. Wilson and his girlfriend, who was in the truck with Wilson at the time, claimed that a truck with young white…

Last week, a motion asking for a reduction in the sentence of John Daniel, a man who pleaded guilty to aggravated battery last year, was denied by a Superior Court judge. Daniel recently just entered into his second year of a 15-year prison term for the offense. Daniel was arrested on February 25, 2021, on charges of aggravated assault, aggravated battery, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and criminal use of an article with an altered ID mark (firearm with altered serial numbers). Coffee County Sheriff’s Office officials released a statement regarding Daniel’s arrest…

Maleah Martin, 18, was recently crowned Miss Georgia North Teen USA, earning her a spot to compete for the title of Miss Georgia Teen USA later this year. Maleah, the daughter of Jay and Ashley Spivey and Steve and Rachel Martin, began participating in pageants at the age of 16. Since then, she has been crowned at numerous pageants, including the title of USA National Miss Peach State Teen. She also competed for the national title of USA National Teen in Hollywood, Florida in July, where she landed in the top 15 in the nation. Just…

Carlton Speight, who was set to stand trial last week on charges carrying a ten-year prison sentence, has been released from the Coffee County Jail on bond following events in the Superior Court of Coffee County last week. Although the jury had been selected and was present at the courthouse, a last-minute motion filed by Speight’s defense resulted in Judge Andy Spivey continuing the case on to next month’s calendar. Speight is currently facing one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon after one was allegedly found in his possession following a burglary conviction in…