A Fulton County jury rejected a “gay panic” defense and convicted a teenager of murdering another teen for “making a pass at him,” District Attorney Paul Howard announced Wednesday.
The jury convicted Marquavyian Gude, now 19, late Tuesday in the death of 17-year-old Devontavius McClain of Griffin.
Superior Court Judge Craig Schwall sentenced Gude to life in prison plus five years.
McClain had left his Spalding County home to meet Gude in Atlanta on April 20, 2013; his badly decomposed body was found in the trunk of his own car in June, Howard said in an email.
Atlanta detectives Summer Benton and Kevin Otts zeroed in on Gude after McClain’s cellphone records linked the two teenagers.
Gude also was spotted driving McClain’s car and attempting to use his debit card, the district attorney email said. Police found Gude in the Fulton County jail, where he was being held on unrelated charges, Howard said in the email.
“Gude confessed to murdering McClain but claimed it was in self-defense because the victim made a pass at him,” Howard said. “According to … Gude, he met the victim online and believed he was meeting a female, not a male.”
Gude could not explain why he chose to ride around with McClain for several hours before killing him instead of leaving, Howard said.
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