The Case
In the early hours of May 8th, 2006, a phone call was made to the police department in Newnan, Ga about an alleged home invasion. There had been a shooting at a house rented by Jarrel Boozer, Artis Mcginity, and Tavares Redwine. It was reported that 3 black males were shot inside the residence and one was killed. There were six known people inside the house(not including intruder’s).
Inside the house: Tavares Redwine, Artis Mcginity, Adrian Woods, Toriano Dix, Jarrel Boozer, April Hall, and her small child.
When law enforcement arrived, McGinty and Woods were found with gunshot wounds, and Redwine was pronounced dead at the scene. Boozer was being questioned by police and his girlfriend at the time, April Hall, was found in his bedroom with her son. Toriano Dix was not at the house when the police arrived. Authorities later learned that Dix fled the scene through a bathroom window when the shooting occurred. In an interview, Dix’s mom told law enforcement that her son came knocking on her door that night explaining the shooting and how he escaped. She also added that he first stopped at Tavarus' mother's house before coming there. Each person, who was at the residence the night of May 8th, were all interviewed and questioned about that night.
When interviewed Adrain Woods, who was at Grady Memorial hospital, told Sgt. John Lewis and Sgt. Beth Suber that he was coming from the bathroom and going to bed. He heard a fight in the hallway that ended with gunshots.
Both Sgt. John Lewis and Sap. Larry Duren also interviewed April Hall and Jarrel Boozer at the CCSO. Boozer was at the house earlier that day with Artis, Tavarees, Tory and Adrain. He stated that Tavarees was in and out that day but they were all just hanging out playing the playstation. Boozer said he started drinking and then his girlfriend, April Hall arrived. They both left the house to get food. After returning, Boozer said they came back to the house, ate the food in his room, and then went to bed. When Hall was interviewed, she told the cops the same as Boozer but when they were both asked about the incident, the storys did not add up. Boozer said he woke up due to a banging noise. He said it sounded like someone had kicked open the front door. Boozer heard arguing out in the hall when he was heading towards the door and then gunshots aroused. He immediately got back in bed and covered April and her son. However, April remembered that night a little differently. She said she woke up to arguing followed by gunshots, no banging noise. Hall stated that she woke up Jarrel when she heard the voices. She did state that Jarrel dove over her and her baby when the shots were fired and then afterwards he called the cops, gave her the phone, and went out in the hallway because someone was yelling for help. Both Boozer and Hall said that before shots were fired, they heard voices. Boozer heard “Give me the money” and Hall heard someone saying “Give it up, give it up”. In Boozer’s interview he said he could not make out the voice he heard. In the interview with April Hall, Sgt. Lewis asked April if she could recognize the voice and she told him she was not sure but “it sounded like Tori”. After that statement from Hall, Sap. Duren stopped the tape. Out of all 5 surviving victims, April was the only one who was not called to testify at trial.
Sgt. John Lewis and Sap Larry Duren interviewed Toriano Romanz Dix at the CCSO. Around 12:25 AM, Dix received a phone call from his girlfriend asking when he would be home. He told her that he would call for a cab to come pick him up. Shortly after, intruders entered the house. Dix advised that he was in the bathroom when intruders came into the house shooting. He then changed his statement and said that he was in bed when the incident occured. He was afraid to admit it at first because he had illegal drugs on his bed, next to his cell phone when the police searched the house. He told officers that he managed to make it to the bathroom where he escaped. When escaping through the window, Tori injured his eye from a panic and was not able to see the offenders due to it being so dark outside. He added that the offenders' voices sounded like 3 black males. Once he arrived at Tavares grandmother’s house, he told her what happened. Tori left his phone behind at the crime scene but was still able to get in contact with his girlfriend. She took him to Hemrick’s to get medical supplies for his injuries.
On May 9th, 2006, Tori called detective Lewis and said that he had been advised by a lady that she saw “men hiding around the house, that she thought were going to rob the place” a couple of nights prior to the incident. The two individuals were later identified. These individuals were not the defendants charged in this crime.
On May 10th, 2006, Tori called Lewis and stated that one of the identified men had shot Tavares years ago and went to prison for it. Dix said that word on the street was he was back in Newnan and may have wanted to shoot Tavares for sending him away. Tori also stated that he heard the name “Jumaani'' and that he might be involved.
In the interview with Artis McGinty at Grady, performed by Sgt. Beth L Suber, McGinty stated that he remembers being in his bedroom, Tarvarees in his bedroom, Jarrel and April in Jarrel’s bedroom, Tory in the spare bedroom, and Adrain was on the couch. Later, McGinty changed his statement and said that he saw a car pull in the driveway. When asked by Deputy Mullis, "was the bathroom window how the intruders came in?" Mr. McGinty said "yes, they came in through the window".
On May 8th, 2006, at 12:15 PM Detectives went to visit McGinty at the hospital. He was unable to speak but was able to squeeze the nurse's hand to answer yes to questions or not squeeze her hand when his answer was no. When asked if he knew who shot him, he did not squeeze the nurse's hand, indicating he did not know who shot him.
On May 9th, 2006 at 9:30 AM, McGinty says he remembers the shooting. He remembers 3 to 4 black males entering the residence, 2 of them he had seen in Newnan and believes they are locals. They drove a 4 door white car. One of them had twists in his hair, and he would be able to recognize them if he saw their picture.
May 10th, 2006 at 9:40 AM McGinty remembers white car pulling up the driveway. Shortly after he heard a loud boom at the front door and saw 4 black males enter, 1 was wearing a mask. McGinty stated that the man who shot him did not make any conversation, “He just shot”.
A white Ford LTD was the getaway car that these “men” used after the robbery. This vehicle did not belong to Armstrong, Cox, or Hargett and there was no evidence that showed their fingerprints inside the car when it was discovered and investigated. More fingerprints, shoe impressions, shell casings/cartridges were also recovered and tested from the scene of the crime that did not match the defendants.
A woman by the name of Andrica Malone, a family member of Tavares who was not an eyewitness to the crime, called law enforcement and gave out Armstrong, Cox, and Hargett’s names. She demanded that these men be investigated. Micheal Cox was taken in for questioning about the shooting. That same day, he was arrested for violating his probation by being under the influence of alcohol. A couple weeks later, a warrant was put out for Benjamin Hargett who later turned himself in and was charged with aggravated assault and murder. Angelo Armstrong was also later arrested with the same charges as Hargett. After Armstrong was in custody, Cox’s original charge was changed from violating probation to aggravated assault and muder.
It was not until January 3rd, 2007 the defendants were indicted by a Coweta County grand jury, even though they had alibis for their whereabouts during the time of the crime. Angelo Armstrong, Micheal Cox, and Benjamin Hargett all got charged with malice murder, felony murder, three counts of aggravated assault, and burglary. After their trial all three men were sentenced to life in prison.
These three men lives were taken away with no credible evidence. The victims knew the defendants by name and face. Armstrong and one of the victims went fishing several times prior to this incident and yet the victim could not identify him without seeing pictures first. All three defendants were in a photo line up and the victims could not identify these men until three months later. The lawyer failed to see that all witnesses were subpoenaed and at trail to testify. Bellsouth phone records were pulled to prove a defendants whereabouts but never handed over by the defense attorney.
It has been more than a decade and yet these three men and their families are still fighting for justice. Just last year, Evelyn Cox, the mother of Micheal Cox, wrote to the District Attorney at the Coweta Judicial Circuit hoping to bring motion towards the three men’s freedom, but there was no response. Reaching out to non profit organizations who help the wrongfully convicted can be very tedious and not always successful. This website was made in hopes to bring awareness to the wrongly accused and justice for these three men. Our goal is to prove their innocence with the simple facts.
This case was closed but not solved.
