Two Clayton County men were found guilty of murder last week for a 2011 drug deal gone wrong.
According to prosecutors, Chaz Jensen Ballard and Singlee Soun killed James Johnson on Feb. 23, 2011, while trying to take drug money from him.
Soun and Ballard were convicted of multiple counts of felony murder – that is, causing a death during the commission of a felony – as well as multiple counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a gun during while committing a felony.
Ballard, 28, and Soun, 26, were said to have met Johnson, a 27-year-old from Coden, Ala., on the night of the killing at an Econo Lodge on Upper Riverdale Road near Jonesboro.
Investigators believed that although Johnson was planning to buy drugs from the two, Ballard and Soun intended to rob him, according to reports.
Armed with an assault rifle and a handgun, respectively, Soun and Ballard fired multiple shots at Johnson, killing him, prosecutors said.
The two were caught on videotape fleeing the scene.
Soun was arrested within a week of the shooting. Ballard remained on the run until last fall.
Both men will be sentenced at a later date.
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