A man shown holding a machete as he chased another man outside a Cobb County gas station has been acquitted of charges associated with the incident.
Witnesses watched the chase and used their cell phones to record the July 2019 that stemmed from road rage.
Dave Anthony Williams was arrested and in April 2021 was indicted on charges of aggravated assault, two counts of aggravated battery and battery, court records showed.
His trial began Monday and late Wednesday, he was found not guilty on all charges.
“Our defense was simply the truth — that Dave Williams was defending himself from a bully,” said defense attorney Maddox Kilgore.
During the trial the defense showed the jury video obtained from a gas station camera showing the other man involved actually started the fight, he said.
“Mr. Williams testified in his own defense that he retrieved the machete only after the other man had threatened to kill him, physically assaulted him, and then circled around to his passenger side car door telling Williams that he ‘had something for him,’” Kilgore said in a statement. “In accordance with Georgia law that there is no duty to retreat when you are not the aggressor, Williams testified that he got the machete believing the other man intended to kill him.”
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