CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga — Jeremiah Joshua Cornette, 35, of Ball Ground was sentenced to 10 years in prison after a Cherokee County jury found him guilty on Wednesday of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
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Following the jury’s verdict, Superior Court Judge Shannon Wallace ordered the 10-year sentence to run concurrently with a prison term Cornette is currently serving. District Attorney Susan K. Treadaway announced the conviction.
The charge stems from a January incident at a home in Nelson. A family member reported hearing a gunshot after Cornette took a rifle from inside the residence and ran into the wooded backyard.
Under Georgia law, individuals with previous felony convictions are prohibited from possessing firearms.
When Cherokee Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to the home, Cornette was inside the garage. He told deputies that the object he had carried into the yard was a stick rather than a firearm.
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K9 units and deputies searched the backyard and located an Anderson rifle buried under leaves in the area where Cornette had been seen.
At the time of the incident in Nelson, Cornette was out on bond for a separate case involving possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He was subsequently convicted and sentenced in that separate case in June.
The case was investigated by the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office and prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Leland J. McElveen Jr. of the Blue Ridge Judicial Circuit. McElveen highlighted the risk Cornette posed to public safety.
“While out on bond for serious charges involving drugs and a firearm, this defendant chose to obtain yet another gun and discharge it,” McElveen said. “His repeated disregard for the law shows a troubling pattern of behavior and poses a clear risk to the safety of our community.”
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