ATLANTA, GA — The Georgia Supreme Court recently upheld the murder convictions for two men currently serving life sentences in a 2022 fatal carjacking in Peachtree Corners.
The court made the unanimous decision on June 30 against Miles Chatezal Collins and Josiah Hughley, Jr. in connection with the July 2022 shooting death of 30-year-old Bradley Lamar Coleman at a gas station. Patch has obtained a copy of the order.
Gwinnett County District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson on Tuesday reacted to the decision.
“We are grateful for this affirmation from the Georgia Supreme Court,” she said in a news release. “Thanks to the incredible work of our team of trial and appellate prosecutors, and all of the staff that assisted with defending these convictions, two dangerous criminals will remain in prison.”
An appeal filed by David Jarrad Booker, the third man convicted in the case, is pending, according to prosecutors.
Coleman was putting air into his Dodge Charge when Collins, Hughley and Booker pulled next to him in a rented Mercedes-Benz, prosecutors said.
The defendants are members of the Blood street gang and aimed to steal Coleman's car in an attempt to increase their gang status, prosecutors said.
Coleman tried to stop them, and in doing so, prosecutors said he was fatally shot during the incident. The trio fled the scene in the Mercedes-Benz, prosecutors said.
In January 2025, all three men were convicted during a trial and were sentenced to life plus 145 years in prison.
Collins and Hughley were convicted of murder, aggravated assault, hijacking a motor vehicle and violating Georgia’s Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act, prosecutors said.
The pair later filed an appeal, challenging the sufficiency of evidence and saying the trial judge errored in permitting evidence, as well as made mistakes with the jury instructions.
The Georgia Supreme Court disagreed and stated their defense attorneys neglected to object to any errors during the trial, prosecutors said.
Furthermore, the high court struck down Hughley's accusation that his attorney did not provide effective counsel during the trial.
In their opinion, the justices wrote:
"Hughley acknowledges that cases like Gober, Hargett and others are adverse to his position, but says that we should now apply the rule of Bowman and Slaughter, which govern the complete failure to administer the trial jury oath of OCGA § 15- 12-139, to deviations from the voir dire oath of OCGA § 15-12-132, such that no objection to the voir dire oath would be required and any deviation from the oath would result in a new trial. However, Hughley does not expressly ask us to overrule those decisions, and in any event, he 'does not engage in the type of stare decisis analysis that overruling' those cases would require. We therefore do not engage in that undertaking here and decline to overrule these cases."
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