Latest news with #Garlington
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
After Fani Willis Drops YSL Murder Charge, Defendant Is Sentenced to 5 Years
One of three remaining YSL trial defendants was sentenced to five years in prison by a Fulton County Superior Court judge Wednesday afternoon. Damekion Garlington was originally facing life in prison if convicted on all charges — including murder and attempted murder — but he entered into an Alford plea with the district attorney's office earlier this week. An Alford plea allows a defendant to maintain their innocence while admitting the prosecution likely has enough evidence to secure a conviction. In exchange for prosecutors agreeing to downgrade the murder charge to aggravated assault and drop the attempted murder charge, the 29-year-old pleaded guilty. Garlington had been Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis' last hope to hold one of the four people charged with the 2022 murder of Shymel Drinks accountable. Drinks was central to the prosecution's argument that Atlanta rapper Young Thug and 27 others were members of a criminal street gang called YSL. Last year, Willis' team dropped murder charges against Miles Farley and Quamarvious Nichols, two of the three other defendants charged with Drinks' murder, in exchange for guilty pleas on lesser charges. The third, Shannon Stillwell, was found not guilty in early December. The district attorney's office did not respond to Capital B Atlanta's request for comment. Judge Paige Reese Whitaker sentenced Garlington to 20 years in jail — five years to serve incarcerated, and 15 years on probation. She suspended a five-year sentence for possession of a firearm during a felony that will be voided as long as he successfully completes probation. Garlington will also receive credit for the nearly three years he's spent in jail since his arrest in September 2022. 'I hope that … this has been an opportunity for you to realize that the direction that your life was going is not a good direction, and that you are determined at this point to turn your life around and make good decisions from here on out,' Whitaker said after the sentencing hearing. She reminded Garlington that he must stay out of Fulton County throughout his probation and will be required to serve the five-year suspended firearms sentence if he violates the terms, which include: no contact with the victims, their relatives, or any gang members; no drugs; no gang paraphernalia; and no guns or replicas of guns. Other conditions stipulate that he must also complete a GED program within the first year of probation, which the judge noted he had already begun working on, and secure full-time employment within the first six months of his release. Garlington will also have to sign a Fourth Amendment waiver as a condition of his release, which means that for the entirety of his probation he, his car, his home, and his social media accounts will be subject to search by law enforcement at any time with or without probable cause. Garlington was one of the 28 people indicted on racketeering charges in May 2022 by the Fulton County DAs office for their alleged involvement in YSL — what prosecutor's classified as a criminal street gang that operated in the Cleveland Avenue neighborhood. Like many of Young Thug's co-defendants, Garlington wasn't able to find a defense attorney by the time the main trial began so his case was severed and scheduled to be tried separately. Jury selection in the trial for the two remaining YSL racketeering defendants, Christian Eppinger and Demise McMullen, is scheduled to begin June 9. The post After Fani Willis Drops YSL Murder Charge, Defendant Is Sentenced to 5 Years appeared first on Capital B News - Atlanta.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gun control advocates hold rally to push for stricter laws in RI
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — At a rally pushing for stricter gun laws at the Rhode Island State House on Tuesday, Diana Garlington shared the story of her daughter, Essence Christal. Christal was 21 years old when she was killed in a drive-by shooting. 'Just six days ago, we should have celebrated her 35th birthday,' Garlington said while standing at the podium. Christal was killed back in 2011, but the pain persists for her mother. 'There are no words to truly express the emptiness, the grief, the loss of her presence,' Garlington explained. BACKGROUND: RI lawmakers hear testimony on 'assault weapons ban' Members of Moms Demand Action, including Garlington, joined fellow advocates, volunteers and lawmakers at the rally to push for passage of the 'Rhode Island Assault Weapons Ban Act of 2025.' Garlington noted that she is a gun owner herself, but still supports the proposed legislation. 'Weapons like the assault rifle used in the shooting that took my daughter's life aren't just tools,' Garlington said. 'They are weapons engineered to kill efficiently and discriminately.' Moms Demand Action's executive director, Angela Ferrell-Zabala, was also at the State House for the rally. 'We know that the majority of Rhode Islanders agree with this,' Ferrell-Zabala said of the legislation. 'These are weapons of war that were designed to kill as many people as quickly as possible … They do not belong in our communities.' What guns would be banned by the 'Rhode Island Assault Weapons Ban Act of 2025'? Brenda Jacob with the R.I. Revolver and Rifle Association has previously advocated on behalf of local pro-gun groups. 'We're one of the safest states in the United States, and I think a good part of that is that we have a lot of gun laws,' Jacob told 12 News on Tuesday. While Jacob supports some of Rhode Island's gun laws, she thinks the proposed legislation is too restrictive and unnecessary. 'The assault weapons ban is … almost all of your common firearms,' she said. Jacob thinks there are other things advocates could be pushing for to crack down on gun violence. 'If you keep taking away law-abiding citizens' right to defend themselves, you are actually making us more sitting targets,' Jacob explained. 'Common sense would be, 'Hey, let's look at the laws we already have on the books. Are they being enforced?'' Ferrell-Zabala holds a different viewpoint. 'It's not taking a hunting rifle or a pistol or those kinds of things away,' she said of the proposed legislation. Ferrell-Zabala thinks that if the bills become law, they will prevent future tragedies. 'We shouldn't be waiting to respond to something,' she said. 'We should be proactively preventing a tragedy from happening.' Download the and apps to get breaking news and weather alerts. Watch or with the new . Follow us on social media: Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
