It took more than a year, but a retrial is underway in the case against three people accused of fatally shooting a Gwinnett County man while he was filling his tires with air at a gas station in 2022.
David Booker, Miles Collins and Josiah Hughley all face multiple counts of murder, car hijacking, aggravated assault and gang charges in the death of 29-year-old Bradley Coleman. The trial began earlier this week.
The original trial took place in October 2023, but a mistrial was declared on the third day of testimony after Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Tamela Adkins ruled the prosecution had made improper comments in front of the jury.
“I think the state’s comment cannot be — I can’t instruct the jury. I can’t unring the bell. I think the state’s comment was so improper and prejudicial that I’m going to have to grant a mistrial,” Adkins said in court after granting the mistrial.
Defense attorneys had filed a motion asking for the mistrial "based on an improper comment made by the prosecutor, incorrectly attributing a statement to one of the defendants, implicating himself and a co-defendant," Adkins wrote in her order granting the motion.
Credit: Gwinnett County Police Department
Credit: Gwinnett County Police Department
The prosecutor’s comments were not revealed. In a statement released to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday, the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office said the mistrial was declared “due to a technical issue within the legal proceedings.”
After the mistrial was declared, Coleman’s mother, Venetia Coleman, told Channel 2 Action News that “it was an unfortunate situation that happened, but we understand that a delay is not a denial.”
A new trial was originally set for the week of Sept. 16, 2024 but was delayed until this week.
Coleman, who lived in Louisiana at the time, was visiting his young daughter, according to friends and family. He was putting air in his tires at a QuikTrip gas station in Peachtree Corners on July 10, 2022 when a group of men tried to steal his Dodge Charger and he was killed trying to fight them off, according to Gwinnett police.
He graduated from Norcross High School and was a former football coach at Peachtree Ridge High School.
Prosecutors allege the three suspects were part of the Bloods gang and planned to take Coleman’s vehicle by force to help the gang and maintain or increase their status.
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