Kentaevious Raeshon Davis, now 22, from Glennville, is scheduled for a jury trial in Bulloch County Superior Court beginning Monday on murder and other charges for the Feb. 29, 2024 shooting deaths of Jamaryce Mincey and Christopher Joyce at a Statesboro motel.
A jury was selected Oct. 23, and dozens of potential witnesses have been subpoenaed. Superior Court Judge Matthew K. Hube oversaw earlier portions of the case, but the Statesboro Herald learned Friday from the Clerk of Courts Office and Hube’s staff that the trial has been reassigned to Senior Judge John R. “Robbie” Turner.
The Ogeechee Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office has its “Major Crimes Attorney Team” assigned to the trial, with Assistant DA Jillian Gibson as lead prosecutor and Assistant DA Matt Breedon assisting.
Davis rejected a plea deal, and the original eight charges from the May 2024 indictment are now “on the table” for trial, stated Lindsay Gribble, non-attorney chief of staff to District Attorney Robert Busbee.
The trial is slated for Monday through Friday, Nov. 17-21, on the court calendar. Asked if one of the prosecutors would comment on the importance of the case, readiness for trial and whether it will last that long, Gribble forwarded a statement from ADA Gibson.
“We feel fully prepared for trial next week,” Gibson said. “This case carries particular weight for our community, as two lives were taken in a violent incident right in the middle of town. These are serious charges, and it is important that we seek accountability for the victims’ families and ensure the safety of our community. While it is a significant matter, we do not anticipate the trial lasting the full five days on the calendar.”
‘Leap day” tragedy
Mincey, 23, of Green Street in Statesboro, and Joyce, 20, formerly of McDonough, were found dead about 8:30 p.m. Feb. 29, that extra day in February 2024, a leap year, at the Days Inn on Fair Road after the motel’s management did a check on their room, Statesboro police reported.
Interviewed in the week after the incident, Police Chief Mike Broadhead said there were three other men in the room when the shooting occurred. Two of the men both said the third man – the primary suspect – shot Joyce and Mincey, according to police at the time.
Although police initially thought there might have been an exchange of gunfire, they soon determined that the two victims did not fire their weapons, though they were both armed, Broadhead said at the time.
Arrested 6 days later
March 1, 2024, the day after the shootings, SPD detectives swore out arrest warrants for Davis, then 20 years old, charging him with two counts of felony murder and two counts of aggravated assault in connection with the killings. His whereabouts were unknown at first, with Statesboro police putting out an alert to the public and other law enforcement agencies.
Investigators with the U.S. Marshals Service Southeast Regional Fugitive Force located and arrested him March 6, 2024, at a residence in Tattnall County.
The indictment true-billed by a Bulloch County grand jury May 7, 2024, charged Davis with two counts each of felony murder and malice murder, two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of possession of a firearm during commission of a felony. But the indictment, as always, is not an indication of guilt but only a finding by a majority of grand jurors that probable cause exists for the charges to go to trial.
“Felony murder” means causing a death during the commission of another felony, with the two counts of aggravated assault by allegedly shooting Mincey and Joyce with a handgun being the primary felony accusations attached to the felony murder charges. “Malice murder” means “murder with malice aforethought,” and Georgia prosecutors often pose both charges so that a jury that did not find “malice” might still convict of murder. The penalties are generally the same.
In jail 600+ days
Davis maintains his innocence, and he is represented by Ogeechee Judicial Circuit Public Defenders Office attorneys.
Formally denied bond after a bond hearing on June 18, 2024, Davis had been locked up 619 days as of Friday, according to the Bulloch County Jail log.
The trial was previously slated to begin on Sept. 18, but this was canceled when Hube on Sept. 10 granted a continuance requested by prosecutors because one witness, who resides in Florida, was under a doctor’s orders not to travel.
Public Defender Que’Andra Campbell, who had opposed the continuance, on Sept. 17 filed a demand for a speedy trial on Davis’ behalf, citing the guarantees of the 6th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, as well as a Georgia law.
Hube then issued an order Sept. 18 setting the jury selection for Oct. 23 and the trial for Nov. 17-21.
Senior judges are judges who have retired from full-time service but fill in when another judge is not available or has a conflict. Turner retired as full-time Superior Court judge by not seeking re-election in 2016 and is one of the Ogeechee Circuit’s three senior judges.