Man pleads guilty to shooting primatologist

A 23-year-old man pleaded guilty Monday to his involvement in a shooting that paralyzed a world-renowned primatologist.

The plea came just before the attorney for his co-defendant began questioning prospective jurors.

Cobb County

Elliott Mitchell

Cobb County

Kendall Bolden

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Kendall Bolden and Elliott Mitchell were held responsible for a stray bullet that hit Shelly Williams in November 2005 and paralyzed her from the waist down.

Bolden, who was not promised anything to plea, will be sentenced after Mitchell’s trial is complete. He is expected to testify. He could get as little as 10 years prison or as much as life plus 70 years.

Bolden admitted to a Smyrna police detective three years ago and again in court Monday that he and Mitchell robbed an alleged drug dealer and Mitchell’s gun discharged when he pistol-whipping the man.

Williams, now 53, was in a strip shopping center at Cobb Parkway and Spring Road when she was hit by a stray bullet as she took a jacket to a tailor to be altered.

In her work in the northern Democratic Republic of Congo, Williams had discovered a species of ape that seemed to be a cross between a chimpanzee and a gorilla. At the time she was shot, she was planning a return trip to the African jungle to get additional information to verify her find, which was described as possibly one of the most important wildlife discoveries in decades.

Bolden said Mitchell and Bolden’s brother, Kai, had planned to tell Terrance Reid they wanted to buy cocaine from him. Instead, the men planned to rob him.

But Kai Bolden was jailed for possession of marijuana the day before so Kendall Bolden went in his place. He planned to use the $20,000 they took from Reid to pay his brother’s bond and legal bills, Kendall Bolden said in court.

Kendall Bolden said he was driving a borrowed Dodge Ram 1500 when Mitchell, in the back seat, hit Reid in the head with the butt of his gun. Mitchell’s gun when off.

“They left not knowing anybody had been shot,” said Jimmy Berry, Bolden’s lawyer.

The prosecutor, Cobb assistant district attorney Jesse Evans, said Kendall Bolden and Mitchell left Reid on the side of Interstate 285. Reid called police to report his robbery.

On Monday, Williams sat in the back of Judge Stephen Schuster’s courtroom. As the Bolden brothers’ family left the courtroom after Kendall entered his plea, their mother stopped and spoke quietly to Williams.

Opening statements in Mitchell’s trial are expected on Tuesday.