In the autumn of 2014, the life of a young Augusta, Georgia man, Javarius Dante Walthour, was tragically cut short at the age of 20. An African American male, Walthour was fatally shot on November 5, 2014, on Cornell Drive in a case that would later unfold with complex details and a surprising legal outcome. At the time of his death, he was pursuing his education at Augusta Technical College, having earned his GED from there in 2012, and was in the process of enlisting in the military.
The investigation into Walthour's death led to the arrests of two men, Demarco Mandrell Williams, then 34, and Jeffrey Houston Burns, then 54. Both were charged with murder and possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime. Authorities reported that Walthour had been shot in the head with a. 32-caliber handgun.
The case against Demarco Williams went to trial in Richmond County Superior Court, where he claimed that he shot Walthour in self-defense. Williams alleged that Walthour was armed and had robbed him earlier on the day of the shooting. His defense argued that the placement of the shell casings supported his account of firing blindly at a fleeing Walthour to avoid being shot himself.
After deliberations, the jury acquitted Williams of murder, criminal damage to property, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime. However, Williams was not entirely exonerated. He was found guilty of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, a charge stemming from a prior conviction. The outcome of the charges against the second suspect, Jeffrey Houston Burns, was not as widely reported. The narrative of self-defense and the subsequent acquittal on the most serious charges left the community with a lingering sense of complexity surrounding the final moments of Javarius Walthour's life.
