In a calendar call for Carroll County Superior Court Judge Dennis Blackmon’s jury trial week, the three attorneys for Egim Chris Etta-Tawo, Evan Donard Winston and Roudolphe Germain Jr. announced they were ready to proceed next week.
Also scheduled for next week is the jury trial of Ray Anthony Gonzales, who will be representing himself.
Gonzales, charged with three counts of child molestation, three counts of sexual battery and aggravated sodomy, was scheduled to appear in court last month, but he was taken to the hospital shortly before the trial complaining of chest pains.
At the time, physicians told Gonzales that he had blockages and would require stents. Assistant District Attorney Anne Allen, who is handling the Gonzales case for the state, said he is fully treated and will be ready for a trial.
Allen also said both trials would most likely not be able to take place, and that one would probably be continued, though she couldn’t say which one.
Etta-Tawo, Germain and Winston, all in their early 20s, were scheduled to appear for a trial for the first time in February.
Etta-Tawo was scheduled to appear on two separate cases — possession and distribution of marijuana and felony murder and violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act.
Winston and Germain were indicted last October for the murder of Kevin Woods, 21, on counts of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, conspiracy to violate the Georgia Controlled Substances Act and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
In the original incident report filed, Carrollton Police Officer Brandon Wilson reported finding the victim dead in a Dodge Charger in the parking lot of Chateau Apartments on Hay’s Mill Road at approximately 3 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 2, 2011, shortly after the shooting occurred.
According to Inv. Chad Taylor, it is currently the belief of police that Etta-Tawo had set up a marijuana deal between the victim and the other two suspects, which ended with Woods’ death. Winston and Germain reportedly drove off in a 1999 Toyota Camry.
Germain is being represented by Atlanta attorney Charles Brant, and Etta-Tawo is represented by Carrollton attorney Kevin Drummond.
Continued to the November trial calendar were the cases of two men accused of armed robbery and a man accused of causing severe injuries to a woman in a domestic violence incident.
Christopher Demond Almon and Thomas Arnold Kidd, as well as a 16-year-old juvenile, were arrested by Carrollton police in January for armed robbery, aggravated assault and giving police false information.
Chris Dobbs of the Carrollton Police Department said the three were arrested from the Chateau Apartment Complex after officers traced cell phone calls made to local pizzerias back to a residence in which they were located. The suspects had allegedly called for deliveries, then robbed delivery workers at gunpoint when they arrived.
The case was continued because Kidd’s counsel in the case, Carrollton attorney Jason Swindle, had to withdraw from the case because of a conflict. Swindle said he formerly represented a material witness in the case, and that it would be “inappropriate” to represent Kidd.
Almon will be represented by Villa Rica attorney Mac Pilgrim, who also asked for a continuance.
The trial of a Villa Rica man accused of causing severe injuries to a woman in two alleged cases of domestic violence was also continued Monday.
Joseph McCoy Burr III, 43, has been charged with several felony offenses, including aggravated assault, aggravated battery, false imprisonment, rape, aggravated sodomy and criminal damage to property in the second degree. He also faces an additional misdemeanor charge of battery under the Family Violence Act.
Burr’s legal counsel, Douglasville attorney Sonya Compton, requested a continuance because she intends to pursue a psychological evaluation of her client. The continuance was not objected to by the state, and was granted by Blackmon. Burr’s case was placed on the Nov. 5 calendar.
According to Capt. Jeff Richards of the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, Burr was arrested on March 24 following allegations that he had assaulted a woman that lived with him, breaking five ribs, puncturing a lung and causing burns to her face and neck from what prosecutors say was a Taser.
The alleged incidents occurred in February and March.
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