Three men accused in a string of gang-related crimes that include murder and rape in east Atlanta must now wait for a Fulton County jury to decide their fates.
Defendants Tamario Wise, Robert Veal and Fernandez Whatley, charged with murder, rape, aggravated assault and other charges in a month-long spree of robberies, home invasions and carjackings in 2010, listened intently Wednesday as attorneys made closing arguments.
Prosecutors say the group’s violence peaked the night of Nov. 22, 2010, when Charles Boyer was shot to death in the Virginia-Highland neighborhood. Hours later, prosecutors say the group raped a Grant Park woman.
Fulton County Assistant District Attorney Lance Cross singled out the gang’s alleged ring leader, Wise.
“[Defense attorneys] said I dehumanized Mr. Wise,” Cross said. “He dehumanized himself by killing Charles Boyer and raping [that woman] and robbing all those people.”
Wise’s name appears on almost every charge of a 90-count indictment alleging armed robbery, murder, rape and sodomy, aggravated assault, kidnapping, and gang activity, among other things.
Authorities said the then-17-year-old Wise recruited accomplices to pull increasingly more violent armed robberies and carjackings.
“The strength of the pack is in the wolf,” Cross told the jury. “And the strength of the wolf is in the pack. The one calling the shots … that’s the wolf. That’s Mr. Wise.”
Attorneys for Wise and Whatley challenged the evidence linking their clients to the most serious charges.
“There is no fact connecting Tamario Wise to anything … except [for a stolen] SUV,” Wise’s attorney, Thomas Wight said. “That’s the only evidence that links Tamario Wise to anything in this case.”
Attorney Cynthia Lain told the jury that Whatley’s confession was coerced from a young man dealing with a family history of men being wrongfully convicted.
“He was in a fight for his life because he was looking at murder and rape charges,” said Lain. “He decided, ‘I have to do something. I have an uncle who was in jail for 13 years for a murder he didn’t commit.’ He knew [police] could put these charges on him.”
Lain said Whatley falsely admitted to helping Wise with a Nov. 27 home invasion and robbery in the Benteen Park neighborhood, but was not present during Boyer’s shooting or the Grant Park rape.
Veal’s attorney, David White, began the trial by admitting his client was guilty of raping the Grant Park woman.
But White contended that Veal, then 21, was immature and led astray by Wise.
Wise’s attorney, Thomas Wight, raised issue with the investigation and the methods he said Atlanta homicide detective Vince Velazquez used to mislead the defendants after their arrests and jurors during the trial.
“This case was brought by a detective for whom deception is the chosen tactic,” Wight said. “He’s not going to give anybody facts that are not consistent with his theory of guilt, not even the DA.”
But Cross challenged Wight’s assessment that police were out to get Wise and his co-defendants.
“Somehow, this is a grand conspiracy to get Mr. Wise, who wasn’t even on the radar until police got a tip,” Cross said.
Jury deliberations begin this afternoon.
About the Author
