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Marietta man found guilty of murder in shooting of Austell cab driver

Mugshot of Justin Marquis Graves

Credit: Cobb County Sheriff's Office

Credit: Cobb County Sheriff's Office

Mugshot of Justin Marquis Graves
By Ben Brasch
Oct 13, 2017

A Cobb County jury on Friday found a man guilty of murder for shooting a 65-year-old Austell cab driver in the head.

Justin Marquis Graves, of Marietta, was found guilty of all counts facing him, said Amy Rushing from the Cobb district attorney’s office.

Graves was 34 when he was arrested in connection with the August 2015 killing of Mike Bemus.

Michael Bemus, 65, of Austell, was found shot to death in the early morning hours on Aug. 6, 2015 in Marietta. (Credit: Channel 2 Action News)
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Court records show that Graves was indicted in October 2015 on a malice murder charge, three counts of felony murder, two aggravated assault counts and one of possessing a weapon as a felon.

Police received a report of an unresponsive driver about 3 a.m. on Aug. 6, 2015.

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They found Bemus’ body in the driver’s seat of his Victory Taxi cab at the Allround Suites in the 2200 block of Northwest Parkway.

Bemus regularly made rounds in Smyrna and Vinings. He was a regular at Laseter's Tavern at Vinings and elsewhere in nearby Smyrna Market Village, friends previously said.

Rushing said Graves is set to be sentenced Thursday at 2 p.m.

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About the Author

Ben Brasch is the reporter tasked with keeping Fulton County government accountable. The Florida native moved to Atlanta for a job with The AJC. If there's something important to you going on in Fulton, he wants to know about it. Help him better metro Atlanta by dropping a line, anonymously or otherwise.

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