BUTTS COUNTY, Ga. — A Georgia groom is charged with murder in the shooting death of his new bride’s stepfather at their wedding.
Jason Maughon, 44, was fatally wounded at his stepdaughter’s wedding in Butts County in July 2024. And the groom, Aaron White, who was also shot in the hand, has been indicted for felony murder.
A defense attorney for Aaron White says he believes the charges are politically motivated because a grand jury found his client acted in self-defense, but is now heading to a second grand jury.
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Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Mark Winne spoke with the couple about what was supposed to be the best day of their lives turning into one of the worst.
“I got to marry my best friend,” Kailagh White said.
But hours after the wedding in the woods, gunfire rang out at the wedding venue, and her stepfather was killed.
“The last time I seen him, he was threatening to cut me, so it’s a fear for my life,” Aaron White said. “[It] really makes you, as much as you don’t want to have to second guess, having to defend yourself.”
Butts County Sheriff Gary Long says his office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation looked into the case.
He says that after a fight earlier in the night, Maughon and another of the bride’s relatives showed up in separate cars. That’s when Long says the other relative began firing a gun and Maughon charged at Aaron White. Aaron White then got to his truck, where he kept his own gun.
“Why did you shoot him?” Winne asked.
“I feared for my life,” Aaron White responded.
After a grand jury found that Aaron White acted in self-defense last year, District Attorney Jonathan Adams chose to take the case to a second grand jury, which indicted him for felony murder.
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Sheriff Long says he strongly disagreed with the DA’s decision to take the case to another grand jury because he feels Aaron White did not commit a crime.
“If I sit and say nothing, what good am I doing as sheriff?” Long said.
Aaron White’s defense attorney, Bret Dunn, says DA Adams is campaigning for Superior Court Judge, and Maughon’s family were not happy with him after the grand jury did not indict Aaron White.
"Jonathan Adams is making a politically motivated decision based on him wanting to be a judge," Dunn said.
But Adams says Dunn is the one who has political motivations.
“I think the only one who has political gain in this is a defense attorney who’s running for state senate, and Bret Dunn is that person," Adams said.
Adams says ballistics came in after the first grand jury and says he saw the case differently after visiting the scene himself. He says he agrees that Aaron White had the right to use self-defense, but not deadly force.
On Wednesday, a judge set a $100,000 bond for Aaron White. Dunn says his client posted bond later that day and walked out of jail.
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