COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) — A Muscogee County jury convicted a man of murder and criminal street gang activity Thursday, relying in part on social media posts and videos depicting suspected gang involvement.
That same jury acquitted a second man of the same charges. The visual evidence against him was not as strong.
WRBL News 3's Chuck Williams took a closer look at social media and video evidence — and how a fairly new state law allows prosecutors to use it.
Kendaryl Rogers is facing the likelihood of life in prison without parole when he is sentenced for his role in the 2020 murder of Alex Bales-Davis.
William Kendrick represented Rogers and spoke about the social media evidence used by the Attorney General's gang prosecution unit.
"This is my message to the young men and women in the community. In these gang cases, if you generate a bunch of social media pictures and videos that portray you in a negative light, portray you as an individual who holds guns and is into a certain type of criminal activity, then, you know, in these gang cases, they are allowed to bring in that evidence and that makes it very difficult to concentrate the jury on the facts of the case," he said.
Rogers was convicted on 18 counts. Prosecutors presented significant evidence of gang affiliation based on social media posts and videos found on Rogers' phone.
"It is almost never built on one post or one small snapshot. It's built and layered over a period of time with a lot of different context," said Cara Convery, assistant attorney general and chief gang prosecutor.
In 2023, the General Assembly passed a law requiring tougher sentences in gang-related cases. Prosecutors are also given more leeway to get criminal history and gang-related material into evidence.
"I tell people all the time about the gang statute. It is an incredibly powerful statute that is a privilege for us to be able to use, so we do so with the idea of scalpel, not sledgehammer," Convery said.
Marquise Hawkins was acquitted of 13 counts by the jury.
There was video evidence that he was affiliated with the Crips and the subset Drive By Hustle (DBH). But that evidence was not as overwhelming as the evidence against Rogers.
"I think there is definitely a cultural element to this case and the charges and even the defenses to the charges. There are individuals who live in certain neighborhoods that have to post pictures with weapons and looking and appearing a certain way as a defense mechanism," said Chuck Douglas, Hawkins' attorney.
Assistant Attorney General Lee Stoy finished his closing argument by showing images and social media posts from the two co-defendants.
The Attorney General's Gang Prosecution Unit currently has two criminal street gang cases under indictment in the Chattahoochee Valley — one in Muscogee County and another in Harris County.
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