No criminal charges in ‘Real Housewives' strip club slaying
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard has reversed course, dropping voluntary manslaughter charges against the strip club manager charged in the death of A.J. Jewell, former fiance of "Real Housewives of Atlanta" cast member Kandi Burruss.
"Following the initial announcement from the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office that Mr. Jewell’s death resulted from a sickle cell crisis, the family of the deceased expressed grave concern regarding the accuracy of the autopsy findings," district attorney's office spokeswoman Yvette Brown said in a statement. "For that reason, our office enlisted the service of two additional medical experts who specialize in the area of sickle cell diagnosis and treatment." Brown's statement said the other medical experts concurred with the initial autopsy findings that Ashley Jewell died as a result of a sickle cell crisis."
Jewell died on Oct. 2 following a fight with Frederick Richardson outside of the Body Tap club near downtown. Richardson's attorney, Dennis Scheib, filed a motion to dismiss last November, saying Howard "lost objectivity."
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About the Author
A native Atlantan, Boone joined the AJC staff in 2007. He quickly carved out a niche covering crime stories, assuming the public safety beat in 2014. He's covered some of the biggest trials this decade, from Hemy Neuman to Ross Harris to Chip Olsen, the latter of which was featured on Season 7 of the AJC's award-winning "Breakdown" podcast.
