GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Some tears in a Gwinnett County courtroom Wednesday afternoon when a jury convicted three people, one of murder, in a home invasion trial.
Channel 2's Tony Thomas was in the courtroom where there was a wide range of reactions from the defendants as these verdicts came down.
The man convicted of murder winked at his family, the one with mixed news sat quietly, and the man who was cleared of most of the allegations cried.
He then addressed the victim's parents.
"I'm sorry for your loss and my prayers and condolences go to your family," said James Stokes shortly after learning his fate.
Stokes cried as the judge read the verdicts clearing him of murder and most of the other charges he faced.
He will serve 20 years for conspiracy in the home invasion death of Adam Schrier in 2014.
"Mr. Stokes you will have a second chance that a lot of people will never be given," said William McNeese, Schrier's stepfather.
McNeese and Schrier's mother had words for the three men now convicted for their roles in the botched robbery.
"There is a gaping hole in our family. Your choice has taken our son from us," Schrier's mother said.
"Mr. Jenkins and Mr. Scott, when you went into my son's home that day, you decided to play God," McNeese said to the men.
Devon Jenkins is the convicted triggerman, the only one of the three found guilty of murder. He will be sentenced at a later date.
Pierre Scott also went into the Duluth home that day. He later gave a taped confession to police. Jurors found him guilty of most of the charges but not of murder.
The judge gave him life in prison plus five years.
"I honestly don't understand why some people didn't pull the ripcord and say at some point I'm not going to be a part of this," said Judge Timothy Hamil.
This is the second trial related to the murder. Hamil has ruled over both. He showed his disgust as he handed down the sentences.
"It speaks to all the worst aspects of our being, and I guess of our society."
WSBTV
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