Prosecutors have offered life sentences to two former high school basketball players if they plead guilty in the 2021 fatal shooting of a recent college graduate during what police described as a botched robbery during a drug deal.
Cameron Walker and Jonathan Murray have been charged in the killing of 24-year-old Connor Mediate in October 2021.
Credit: Family Photo
Credit: Family Photo
The pair were members of Milton High School’s varsity team at the time and were arrested the following month shortly after a game, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. Walker lost his basketball scholarship to George Mason University as a result.
Investigators have accused the duo of planning to meet with Mediate to buy drugs in an Alpharetta parking deck outside the Collingwood Apartments. Witnesses reported hearing up to six shots, and Mediate was found lying in a pool of blood with three gunshot wounds to the neck, police said at the time. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Both suspects have been charged with murder, three counts of felony murder, aggravated assault, criminal attempt to commit armed robbery and purchase marijuana, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
Walker and Murray have pleaded not guilty, but prosecutors extended an offer to recommend life in prison if they change their plea. They have until the next pretrial hearing to decide. It is not clear when that hearing will take place and it was not specified whether the plea includes the eligibility for parole.
If found guilty by a jury, a sentence of life without parole would be on the table for both men, according to Georgia law.
The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office did not return a request for more information.
Mediate was a former varsity football player at St. Francis High School and graduated in 2020 from Kennesaw State University, where he earned Dean’s List honors in his final two years, according to his obituary.
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