Three charged in Columbus teens’ double-slaying go to trial in state gang case
An allegedly gang-related Columbus double-murder trial got off to a slow start Monday as attorneys waited hours for a jury pool of 90 to arrive.
A team of special prosecutors for the Georgia Attorney General’s Office was there to pursue the case against brothers Terrance Upshaw, 31, and Homer Eugene Upshaw, 28, and their codefendant Rodderick Quaterrius Glanton, 28.
A 21-count indictment charges all three with murder, aggravated assault, criminal damage to property, possessing guns while committing felonies, and violating Georgia’s Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act.
Authorities say that on June 14, 2021, the suspects were recorded on video emerging from a house in the 3100 block of 32nd Street, taking positions and firing more than 50 shots at a Dodge Dart, hitting four people and killing two.
Saiveon Pugh, 18, and Jessie Ransom, 17, died from their wounds: A 19-year-old and a juvenile hit in the car were treated and released, police said.
The state attorney general’s gang prosecution unit alleges they’re members of the Marlow Gang, “a local hybrid street gang” associated with the more powerful US World, which began operating in Columbus in 2019.
US World is affiliated with national gangs such as the Gangster Disciples and Crips, the attorney general said.
The prosecutors, Cara Convery and McKenzie Gray, are with a special gang unit Attorney General Chris Carr established in July 2022 with $1.3 million in funding from the state legislature.
Terrance Upshaw is represented by Shevon Thomas II. Homer Upshaw is represented by William Kendrick. Glanton’s attorney is Allen C. Jones.
Jones faces his own felony charges, accused of smuggling contraband to inmates in the Muscogee County Jail. Jones has not been convicted and is free on bond, so he is able to continue representing Glanton.
Jury selection was to start at 9 a.m. Monday in Judge Gil McBride’s Government Center courtroom, but attorneys waited more than two hours for jurors to come there from the Comer Building off Talbotton Road, where they were told to report for duty.
The defendants were escorted into the courtroom Monday shortly before the jury pool came in at 11:30 a.m. Attorneys will have to pick a jury of 12, plus alternates, to hear the evidence.
What happened?
Investigators outlined the video evidence police recovered during a Jul;y 2021 hearing in Columbus Recorder’s Court.
Detective Kyle Tuggle said footage from a residence in the 3100 block of Seventh Avenue showed the suspects “rush out” of the residence before “taking position” as a Dodge Dart drove toward them, then firing at it.
Police got multiple calls to a shooting at the intersection of 32nd Street and Seventh Avenue, and found the four gunshot victims near Building 316 of Wilson Apartments, at 3400 Eighth Ave.
Besides murder charges for the deaths of Pugh and Ransom, the three suspects face aggravated assault counts for the victims who survived.
Homer Upshaw has additional weapons and drug trafficking charges because of a prior felony conviction, and because police said he had 10 pounds of marijuana when they arrested him July 26, 2021.
