A Lithonia man arrested more than three years ago after leaving his passport and cellphone at the scene of a deadly shooting was sentenced to two decades behind bars.
Sanjay Stewartson, now 31, was convicted Wednesday of voluntary manslaughter and weapons charges in the killing of a man described by prosecutors as his “rival.”
The shooting occurred the morning of May 8, 2018, in the parking lot of a busy shopping center along Covington Highway, about a half-mile from Lithonia High School, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. According to investigators, Stewartson pulled into the shopping plaza while riding in a car with two friends.
It was there he spotted 51-year-old Noel “Bobo” Dawkins, a man with whom Stewartson had an “ongoing dispute,” authorities said. Stewartson got out of his car and began arguing with Dawkins, and the fight quickly turned physical.
“Despite an attempt by the victim to prevent the defendant from reaching for his gun, Stewartson drew his weapon and shot Dawkins three times before fleeing the scene, leaving behind his sandal, cellphone and passport,” the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office said Friday in a news release.
Dawkins later died as a result of a gunshot wound to his torso, officials said. An unfired revolver was recovered from the scene.
Stewartson managed to get away but unintentionally turned himself in nearly a week later when he tried to report his passport missing at a Lawrenceville police station.
He told an officer he needed to file a report for his passport, which he believed he’d lost at a Gwinnett County Walmart, so he could order a replacement. He and his wife were hoping to go on vacation, he told police. An officer noticed the man was sweating profusely and that his hands were shaking, the AJC reported at the time.
Police said that’s what led them to investigate further. After realizing Stewartson was wanted on a murder charge, the officer informed him he was being arrested.
The photo on the passport left behind at the scene matched the description a witness gave police, authorities said, and Stewartson’s phone contained messages that showed him arguing with the victim over marijuana and threatening him.
Stewartson later told detectives he shot Dawkins in self-defense, but an eyewitness testified that he never saw the victim with a gun. Stewartson was indicted on a murder charge less than a month after the shooting, but during deliberations this week, a DeKalb County jury chose to convict him on the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter, the DA’s office said.
Stewartson was sentenced to 25 years, with 20 to serve in prison and the remainder on probation, officials said.
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