By Joe Johnson
A Clarke County jury on Friday acquitted an Athens man who was accused of committing a murder over two years ago.
Following a weeklong trial in Superior Court, the jury found 26-year-old Willie Tremaine Nickholas Evans not guilty of malice and felony murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
Defense attorney John Donnelly did not return a phone message and email seeking comment. The Western Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case, declined comment.
According to Athens-Clarke County police, evidence had pointed to Evans as the person who on June 13, 2019 fatally shot 51-year-old David Lee Burnette in the victim’s home at the University Oaks complex off West Broad Street.
Police at the time said that robbery was the apparent motive for the shooting.
David Burnette
According to police, Evans, who also resided at University Oaks, immediately after the shooting fled to Florida, where he was later arrested on charges of illegal possession of a concealed firearm, resisting arrest with violence, and battery on a police officer.
Authorities said he was in possession of the murder weapon when arrested.
Evans was extradited to Georgia in May 2020 on a Superior Court judge’s bench warrant, and he remained incarcerated without bail at the county jail until his trial.
That’s justice in Athens. The word has definitely got through in the criminal world that Athens is a safe haven for criminals and not to worry about being prosecuted or even found guilty. What needs to happen is for our district attorney and the courts to quit playing these social experiment games with our safety and start being more hard nosed and start throwing the book at these criminals. Arrest them for everything and give them maximum punishment. Make it so HOT here that they won’t know what hit them. And I can tell you that once that starts happening in a sustained effort, the word WILL then get passed around the criminal world that Athens is definitely NOT th…
So He lived adjacent to the victim, he fled the state after the murder, resisted the police and had the murder weapon in his possession upon arrest and the jury found him not guilty? Okay Clarke County citizens if that is not a wake up call; that you will not get justice in the courts, then nothing is. Better to be judged by 12.