A Decatur man was found guilty of murder Friday and sentenced to life in prison for killing a man during an attempted robbery at a DeKalb County apartment complex in 2020, officials said.
Antonio Lee, 23, was convicted of malice murder, two counts of felony murder and other charges, DeKalb District Attorney Sherry Boston announced. A jury found Lee guilty of killing 31-year-old Charles Lewis at the Wesley Club Apartments on Jan. 28, 2020, according to Boston. Lee was 18 at the time.
Lee was first arrested in February 2020, about a week after the shooting, DeKalb police said. Lewis was buried two days after his killer’s arrest, per his obituary.
According to Boston, police were called to the complex around 10:40 a.m. the day of the shooting. At the scene, they found Lewis suffering from multiple gunshot wounds on the floor of his apartment. He was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital but later died of his wounds.
Investigators found shell casings in the apartment complex’s stairwell and a rose gold iPhone on the sidewalk leading to the building, Boston said. Police connected the cellphone to Lee. After his arrest, Lee told investigators we was walking to Lewis’ apartment to buy marijuana when he heard gunshots and ran away, dropping his phone.
Investigators used security camera footage to determine that Lee was lying, the DA said. Lee actually rode in a car to the apartment with his co-defendant, 24-year-old Vincent Smith, and another, unknown man, Boston said. After Lee committed the fatal shooting, Smith and the other man drove him home.
Smith previously pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including voluntary manslaughter, in February, Boston said. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
After Lee was arrested, he was able to delay his trial for several years and spend most of that time free from jail.
Lee spent several months in jail after his initial arrest before being granted bond in June 2020, according to court records. He was indicted a year later, then was not arraigned until February 2022. Lee’s bond was briefly revoked in January 2023 and he spent about three weeks back in jail before he was released again on a modified bond.
His bond was revoked a final time earlier this year and he was booked into jail Jan. 19, online records show. He has remained in custody since then and will be transferred to a state prison to serve out his life sentence plus five years.
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