Life Sentence Upheld for Man Convicted of East Cobb Murder

Photo Credit: Georgia Department of Corrections

A man who was given a life sentence in 2010 after being convicted on murder charges for a 2008 killing in East Cobb will stay behind bars after the Georgia Supreme Court refused to overturn the convictions, the Marietta Daily Journal reports.

The attorney for Jeffrey Wright argued that he deserved a new trial because of poor counsel during the 2010 trial, and said that the murder convictions against his client should be thrown out because Wright was only the getaway driver in the June 20, 2008 killing of Ricardo Carbajal, says the MDJ.

The MDJ reports that the Supreme Court responded that it could find no evidence that Wright’s original lawyer had been maliciously incompetent in his defense, and added that it was not their duty to re-examine the evidence presented at the 2010 trial. The court ruled that it would abide by the jury’s decision and uphold the life sentence.

According to the MDJ, Wright, driving his personal vehicle with two passengers in tow, pulled up to the Sedona Falls Apartments in East Cobb and discovered four Hispanic men drinking beers outside. Wright’s passengers exited the car and were trying to rob the men at gunpoint when a neighbor arrived at the scene.

An altercation ensued, says the MDJ, and Wright’s passenger Zachary Brown shot Carbajal twice in the chest, killing him. Wright then ordered his companions back in the car and fled the scene. The trio were arrested shortly thereafter, the MDJ says,

Following his conviction on charges including malice murder and felony murder, Wright was sentenced on May 10, 2010. The MDJ says that Wright is serving out his sentence at the Telfair State Prison in Helena.