Jury Convicts Trio of 2013 Beating Death

A Cobb County jury has convicted three men of the 2013 beating of a 36-year-old man at a Mableton gas station, an event which directly led to his death.

The Cobb County District Attorney’s Office said that Jonathan Donald Anthony, Antonio Shantwan Pass, and Jekari Oshay Strozier were all convicted of murder and violations of the Georgia Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act for their roles in the death of Joshua Chellew on June 30, 2013.

According to Cobb County police investigators, the defendants were loitering as part of a crowd of people at the Chevron station in the 6000 block of Mableton Parkway near Factory Shoals Road when Chellew and a friend pulled in to get gas at approximately 1 a.m.

Chellew, later determined to be intoxicated at the time, allegedly held up a blue bandanna to insult the loiterers, who were members of the Re-Up street gang. Re-Up uses red as one of its primary colors, and took Chellew’s use of the blue bandanna as a mark of disrespect.

The defendants surrounded Chellew, and he tried to flee the scene. He ran across two lanes of Mableton Parkway and crossed the median before the defendants caught up with him and beat him unconscious. He was later run over and killed by a passing car.

None of the three have been sentenced yet, nor has a sentencing date been set. Each man faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.

A fourth defendant, Kemonta Deandre Bonds, was acquitted on all charges.