In the early hours of May 5, 2015, the life of 24-year-old Kendra Weathers was tragically cut short in Austell, Georgia. Responding to calls of gunfire at the Lake Crossing Apartments on Six Flags Drive around 2 a.m., Cobb County police discovered Weathers in the breezeway of a building with multiple gunshot wounds. She was rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Inside her apartment, authorities found her three young children, who were unharmed and taken into the care of Cobb County police.
The investigation quickly led authorities to her 47-year-old boyfriend, George Michael Lewis. A day after the shooting, Lewis was apprehended near Savannah following a brief chase with the Georgia State Patrol. He was extradited back to Cobb County and charged with murder, aggravated assault, and firearm possession in connection with Weathers's death.
The subsequent trial revealed a turbulent and violent relationship between Weathers and Lewis. Evidence presented showed that Weathers had previously obtained a protective order against Lewis following a domestic dispute that resulted in his arrest. Despite the order, she had allowed him back into her home. On the morning of the murder, the couple was engaged in an argument that spilled out into the breezeway, where Lewis shot Weathers twice with a pistol before fleeing the scene.
During the trial, Lewis claimed that Weathers had been the aggressor and that the gun had discharged accidentally during a struggle. However, a jury convicted him in October 2016 on multiple charges, including malice murder, felony murder, domestic aggravated assault, and aggravated stalking. The judge, calling his actions 'premeditated and calculated,' sentenced George Michael Lewis to life in prison without the possibility of parole, with an additional five years for the firearms charge to be served consecutively. His conviction was later upheld on appeal.
