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Former South Gwinnett High School students take plea deal in 2016 rape case

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — Four former South Gwinnett High School students have taken a plea deal to lesser charges in a 2016 rape case, after spending more than two years in jail without bond.

The deal allowed them to avoid a trial and the possibility of serving life sentences, as the group was charged as adults two years ago.

This week, the group pleaded as first-time offenders  to attempted rape charges.

The sentences for William Thompson, Darriah Mitchell , Tavien Hartwell and Cameron Richard include a 15-year sentence with eight years to serve.

The more than two years they’ve already served will be credited to their sentences, and they’ll be eligible to have their records sealed and be removed from the sex offender registry, according to prosecutors.

Channel 2 investigative reporter Nicole Carr began to revisit the case earlier this year, after the mother of the youngest defendant sat down to talk about the bond denials that kept the group imprisoned when there was no trial date in sight.

In May, Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter told Carr that the reason for the denials was twofold -- the fear of witness tampering, and the fact that no defense counsel had requested conditional bond.

Darriah Mitchell was 14 at the time of the alleged rape, the youngest in the group whose oldest defendant, Richard, was 17 at the time.

The prolonged case was riddled with complications, as each defendant opted for his own legal team and there were several failed plea deal discussions. The State had issues in preparing for trial as a lead prosecutor left the office, and questions surrounded the whereabouts of the victim.

At one point, Mitchell’s mother requested to have a prosecutor removed, resulting in a contentious hearing and an argument the mother apologized for this week:

The teens involved, including the victim, reported a number of accounts about the May incident, which occurred when the group skipped class. Several of them said they did not remember what happened after taking Xanax.

Earlier this year, the State told Carr they could not locate the key witness needed to move forward with the trial -- the victim.
 
[READ MORE: State hasn't located accuser in prolonged teen rape case, defends bond denial]

“Three days after we talked, we found her,” Porter said Thursday.

The case took a turn earlier this summer, when Mitchell’s mother, Hildiah Martin-Suggs, replaced her son’s defense team with Atlanta civil rights and defense attorney Gerald, Griggs who said he was concerned with the initial actions the State took in bond denial.

“I think this was a disservice on both sides, because this should have been a case that could have been resolved a lot quicker than it was,” Griggs said. “It was also a type of case where if the individuals were granted bond, they could have helped their attorney figure out what happened in the case.”

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Porter showed Griggs and Martin-Suggs two video clips totaling 13 seconds that changed the course of plea negotiations.

“It’s clear she’s unconscious. It’s clear,” Porter said. “Of anything else you watch in that video, it’s clear she’s unconscious.”

“You saw that sexual contact happened,” Griggs said. “The question was whether or not there was consent.”

The consent piece was also challenged in a new affidavit submitted by a co-defendant.

“One of the witnesses indicated that at least the first act could have been consensual,” Porter said. “On the other hand, we had a victim who said when she was interviewed, ‘I didn’t consent to anything.’ And I’m in the victim-believing business.”

Porter said the state wanted to get the charges down to an aggravated assault with attempt to rape, but the conditions  of the first offender’s agreement would not have been applicable with that charge. He also said the State would have been willing to enact the same type of deal early on the case.

Griggs said he was not willing to place Mitchell’s fate in the hands of a jury that would have to grapple with the question of consent from the few seconds of video evidence.

“Given the holes in the case on both sides, and given the magnitude of the charge and the possibility of a life sentence, it’s always good to be able to say your client is going to see fresh air again, in his 20s, without a record,” Griggs said.

In part of a statement Martin-Suggs read to the court Monday, the mother said she was no initially on board with her son taking the plea deal, but echoed Griggs’s conclusion.

Read full statement here:

"It was a honor raising Darriah as a child that I rarely had to ask my baby to do anything more than once. He was always respectful to the women in our family and female friends. If me and Darriah could turn back the hands of time, me and Darriah both know Darriah would have never skipped school, taken any drugs and we wouldn't have been in court that day. I've been the investigator on this entire case. If it wasn't for my investigation, Darriah speaking on his own behalf, attorney Gerald Griggs' representation and attorney Courtney Spicer's representation presented to Judge Tom Davis on Darriah's behalf to have a second chance at his life that day, I would have lost my baby completely to the system because of the two former attorneys, Nefertara Clark and Charlene Burton robbing me of $20,000 and didn't fight for my son's life. They was deceitful and basically swept this case away, trying to convince us to take a plea and we never seen full evidence of what we was against. There is no undoing the video that was revealed to me and Darriah two weeks ago recorded by one of his co-defendants. No matter what happened prior to the video or after. There was no way in the hell. After viewing that video, I was going to have a jury trial and they see this video. Facts that it wasn't rape, but I still wasn't about to gamble my son life. I'm sorry about what happened and I apologize to attorney Spicer for us falling out months ago. Attorney Griggs (and) attorney Spicer did an amazing job the other day and soon my baby can live his life again in a more positive way. Darriah won't be spending the rest of his life in prison for a video that we can't justify even though he was under the influence. He will make better choices in his future, finish school, work and mentor more youth like he (is) now .. Not to make the same mistakes he made by skipping school and using drugs. I thank you Nicole Carr, I thank my NAACP family as well."