A man who killed a grandmother in 2014 by running her over was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the Douglas County district attorney said Monday.
Dewey Calhoun Green, 31, was convicted Oct. 13 of felony murder and three counts of aggravated assault in the death of 53-year-old Janice Pitts. Chief Superior Court Judge William “Beau” McClain sentenced Green on Monday.
“This is a case that shocked our community,” District Attorney Dalia Racine said in a news release. “A grandmother, a law-abiding citizen, driving her daughter to work was senselessly and brutally run over and murdered by the defendant. Today, the judge ensured that the defendant cannot harm anyone else.”
“Though nothing can repair the loss that occurred that day, we pray that this sentencing will provide the Pitts family some peace and healing knowing that the defendant was again held to account,” she added.
Credit: Family photo
Credit: Family photo
On June 25, 2014, Pitts’ SUV was struck from behind multiple times as she took her daughter to work. Her 4-year-old grandson was in the back seat, her daughter told investigators. Pitts got out of the SUV to check on the little boy.
“She was just concerned about her grandbaby,” her daughter, Lesha Davis, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution after her mother’s death.
It was Green who had struck Pitts’ Lincoln Navigator with his Chevrolet Silverado, witnesses told investigators. When Pitts got out of her SUV, Green pinned her between the two vehicles, put the truck in reverse, then drove forward over Pitts.
“He literally ran my mother’s head over,” Davis said.
Green left the scene and drove a short distance up an embankment until his truck came to a stop, according to prosecutors. Green initially denied he had been driving the truck and claimed he hadn’t struck anyone.
The recent conviction was the second in the case for Green. He was first convicted in August 2015 of killing Pitts and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
But in November 2019, the Georgia Supreme Court overturned that conviction, ruling that a trial court excluded a key witness’ testimony that might have affected the jury’s guilty verdict. Last month, a different jury convicted Green again after his second trial, which lasted nine days.
Green, who previously served in Hancock State Prison in Sparta, has been in the Douglas County jail since his recent trial.
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