The ringleader in a Cobb County botched robbery that left a 19-year-old dead in May 2023 has been convicted on a slew of charges and sentenced to life in prison without parole, authorities said.
Rodney Jacob Sanders, 26, was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter, five counts of felony murder and several additional charges earlier this month, according to Cobb District Attorney Flynn D. Broady. Court documents show that Sanders was tried for malice murder, but a jury found him guilty of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter.
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Prosecutors showed at trial that Sanders orchestrated the home invasion with three other men that led to the death of Aiden Kane Shaw. The three others all testified against Sanders.
Cibias Vieira, Jaiden Crawford and David Travis each entered negotiated guilty pleas on a handful of charges, court records show. Vieira and Travis were each sentenced to 25 years in prison, while Crawford was sentenced to 15.
The series of crimes that led to Shaw’s death began when the four co-defendants tried to break into the teenager’s Acworth apartment while he was not home on May 16, 2023, the DA’s office said. Broady did not say if Shaw and Sanders knew each other but, after the initial burglary attempt, Sanders returned to the Walden Ridge Apartment Homes on Cobb Parkway under the pretense of helping repair the door. As Sanders helped, he gathered information that he relayed back to the others, the DA said.
Three hours later, Crawford, Travis and Vieira returned to Shaw’s apartment, where the victim was inside with his girlfriend. Shaw braced himself against the door as the three would-be burglars tried to force their way through. When Shaw called to his girlfriend to get a gun, two of the men outside opened fire and shot through the door, hitting and killing Shaw.
Acworth police responded to the scene and found Shaw dead inside his apartment, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. It was boarded up and his bullet-riddled front door was taken as evidence.
Crawford was arrested within a week of the shooting, while Travis and Vieira were taken into custody the following month. Sanders remained at large for several months until he was arrested in September 2023. All four have been held in the Cobb jail without bond since their arrests, online records show.
The full list of Sanders’ guilty charges includes: one count of voluntary manslaughter, five counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault and one count each of first-degree attempted home invasion, conspiracy to commit home invasion, attempted armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, first-degree burglary and conspiracy to commit burglary. Sanders was acquitted on one count of felony murder.
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