Man facing murder charge in 2017 Snapchat shooting enters insanity plea

Nov. 1—A Sautee man accused of fatally shooting a Gainesville teenager entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity more than a month before his case is set for trial, according to court documents.

Talon Lowery, 23, was indicted almost five years ago in the Nov. 2, 2017, shooting of Bryan Ramirez, 18, at the Cleveland Highway Texaco.

A Snapchat video of the shooting led to Lowery as the murder suspect. He was indicted days later on malice murder and felony murder charges.

After years of evaluations, Superior Court Judge Kathlene Gosselin ruled in September that Lowery was competent to stand trial.

According to court documents, the trial has been specially set for Dec. 5.

Lowery's attorneys, Jeffrey Brickman and Robert Rubin, filed notice Oct. 24 of Lowery's plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Competency concerns whether Lowery understood the facets of a trial and his ability to assist in his own defense.

"The defense of insanity focuses on the defendant's state of mind at the time of the alleged crime," Rubin told The Times Tuesday, Nov. 1.

Rubin said Lowery suffers from schizophrenia and claimed his client "did not know that what he was doing was wrong."

Rubin called it a "terribly sad case," as Ramirez had done nothing to provoke or instigate.

Lowery and Ramirez did not know one another, Rubin said.

Superior Court Judge Clint Bearden ordered Oct. 25 for Lowery to be evaluated by the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities "to determine his degree of responsibility and/or sanity at the time of the offense as the court's expert."

Rubin said Lowery has been evaluated, but the report has not been received.

Citing the pending nature of the case, Northeastern Judicial Circuit District Attorney Lee Darragh declined to comment.