2 convicted in rival gang member's shooting death

By Alexis Stevens

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Two men accused in the shooting death of a rival gang member were convicted of murder Monday in a Fulton County courtroom.

A jury found Prentice McNeil, 26, and Matthew Mitchell, 27, guilty of murder, aggravated assault and various weapon charges for the 2007 shooting death of 20-year-old Christopher Copeland.

Copeland was shot at least 40 times as he left an illegal gambling establishing on Metropolitan Parkway in Atlanta, according to Fulton District Attorney Paul Howard. Copeland was surrounded by a group of men armed with assault rifles and handguns, and investigators said more than 70 rounds were fired.

Prosecutors have said the killing was carried out as revenge for a home invasion of Mitchell's residence five days earlier.

Several days after Copeland's death, investigators recovered eight assault rifles, a handgun, ammunition and drugs from McNeil's home. The following day, McNeil was arrested outside a Memorial Drive nightclub carrying a .40-caliber handgun, Howard said.

In March 2008, Mitchell's then-girlfriend, Veronica Watts, helped police locate one of the weapons used in the killing, one of Mitchell's handguns that she had hidden for him. Mitchell dumped another one of the weapons in a trash can at a McDonald's, Watts testified.

Johnson's whereabouts were unknown at the start of the trial, but she was later located in Florida and returned to Atlanta, Howard said. Johnson testified that Mitchell and his mother had paid her to leave town so that she could not testify against Mitchell, the father of her two children, Howard said.

Mitchell, the son of the wife of state Rep. Tyrone Brooks, D-Atlanta, was granted bond following his arrest in June 2009. His mother, Mary Brooks, is now under investigation by the GBI for her role in helping Watts leave Atlanta, the GBI has said.

Last month, Watts testified, Brooks left her a bank envelope with $1,500 in cash. Soon one of Mitchell's friends picked her up and drove her to Miami, where she booked into a number of hotels. Following Mitchell's instructions, she did not use her real name, she testified.

Both McNeil and Mitchell were sentenced to life plus five years in prison following their convictions.

-- Staff writer Bill Rankin contributed to this report.