In the early evening of March 14, 2015, a vehicle accident on Drummond Drive in Rome, Georgia, took a dark and violent turn, ending the life of 21-year-old Patrick Marcus Edwin Wall. First responders arriving at the scene discovered that Wall had sustained a gunshot wound. He was rushed to Floyd Medical Center, but tragically succumbed to his injuries.
The ensuing investigation quickly identified a suspect: 27-year-old Stevie Lamar Garner. A murder warrant was issued for Garner, and law enforcement began a search for his whereabouts. A few days later, on March 18, 2015, members of the U.S. Marshals Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force, along with officers from the Floyd County Sheriff's Office and the Floyd County Police Department, located Garner at a residence in Silver Creek. He was taken into custody without incident and booked into the Floyd County Jail. A woman named Barbara Maegan Witt, who had been reported missing and was believed to be with Garner, was also found at the residence and taken into custody.
Stevie Lamar Garner was tried by a jury and found guilty of murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and aggravated battery in connection with the shooting death of Patrick Wall. He later appealed his conviction, arguing that the trial court had erred in refusing to instruct the jury on self-defense. However, in a ruling on June 4, 2018, the Supreme Court of Georgia found no reversible error and affirmed Garner's convictions.
