On the evening of April 25, 2015, in Savannah, Georgia, a 21-year-old man named Rashad Biggins was found lying on the sidewalk at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Henry Street. It was approximately 9:41 p.m. when emergency services responded to the scene. Biggins had been shot multiple times and was quickly transported to Memorial University Medical Center for treatment. Despite the efforts of medical staff, he succumbed to his injuries shortly after arriving at the hospital.
The investigation into the shooting led Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department detectives to identify two suspects. In April of 2016, nearly a year after Biggins' death, authorities announced the arrests of 25-year-old Tyrell Smith and 20-year-old Arheem Deloach. Deloach was already incarcerated at the Chatham County Detention Center on an unrelated murder charge when he was served with the warrant for Biggins' murder. Smith was arrested at his place of employment without incident.
Arheem Deloach faced a litany of charges in connection with the death of Rashad Biggins, including malice murder, felony murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Tyrell Smith was charged with conspiracy to commit a crime and as a party to the crimes of malice murder, felony murder, and aggravated assault.
In August 2017, a Chatham County jury found Arheem Deloach guilty of malice murder in the death of Rashad Biggins, as well as in the separate murder of another man. His conviction was part of a larger prosecution that linked the two killings as acts of revenge. Following his conviction, Deloach's legal team filed for a new trial, leading to a series of appeals. The case eventually went to the Georgia Supreme Court, which ultimately affirmed the trial court's judgment in part and reversed it in part, though the core of the conviction related to the murders was addressed in the appellate decisions.
