Henry County District Attorney Darius Pattillo said Tuesday he will seek the death penalty against two men charged with shooting to death four people at a home in a rural part of the county.
Defendants Jacob Cole Kosky and Matthew Baker Jr. were brought to the Henry County courthouse from jail Tuesday for what was to be a first hearing in a case that has gripped the community. But the hearing case was postponed until April 11 at 1:30 p.m.
Baker no longer had an attorney so his mother spoke on his behalf. She stood from the back of the courtroom and asked Judge Archer McGarity for more time so that the family could find another attorney. Baker’s attorney reportedly withdrew after learning the death penalty would be sought in the case. The attorney does not handle death penalty cases.
Pattillo said he had filed his intention in court Monday. Baker was brought into the courtroom packed with the victims’ family members, his parents and his supporters who looked on quietly as Baker stood motionless when Pattillo served him the papers.
On Oct. 26, the two men attended a bonfire gathering at a home on Moccasin Gap Road in south Henry. The pair left the home at one point during the party. They returned and began shooting.
Police arrived in the early hours of Oct. 27 to find three people dead inside the home. The dead were Matthew Hicks, 18; Keith Gibson, 29 and Sophia Bullard, 20. The fourth victim, 20-year-old Destiny Olinger, was airlifted to Grady Memorial Hospital where she died two days later.
Three other people at the party were charged with misdemeanor obstruction: Jacob Williams, 18, of McDonough, Kayla Head, 21, of McDonough and Brooke Knight, 19, of Locust Grove - were charged with misdemeanor obstruction for not cooperating with police.
Kosky's sister, who attended the party, hid when the shooting began and called 911 once the shooting stopped, later told police that she recognized the gunman's voice as her brother. The gun used in the shooting was later found near a bridge in nearby Newton County. Kosky, who turned himself in, admitted to police he was the shooter, police said.
No motive was given for the shootings.
To seek the death penalty, state law requires defendants be charged with murder, rape, armed robbery or kidnapping and have at least one aggravating factor. Pattillo listed six aggravating factors against Kosky and Baker, including that the four murders were “outrageously and wantonly vile, horrible and inhuman in that the murders involved depravity of mind.”
So far this year, there have been about a half dozen notices to seek the death penalty filed by DAs in Georgia.
The pair were indicted in January on multiple charges, shortly after Pattillo became the county DA. Kosky, 23, was indicted on four counts of malice murder, eight counts of felony murder, four counts of aggravated assault, one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and one count of felony theft by taking.
Baker, 19, was indicted on four counts of malice murder, four counts of felony murder, four counts of aggravated assault, and one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
The last case in Henry involving capital punishment was in October 2015. At the time, Robert Lewis Price III was facing the death penalty. Price and three other men wer charged with murder and other felonies for shooting Ron Cantrell Sr., 68, and wounding his son, Ron. Jr during a home invasion at the Cantrell home in Stockbridge in September 2012. Cantrell Sr. died four days after being shot.
Then-District Attorney Jim Wright filed notice to seek the death penalty against Price, who reportedly confessed to being the shooter. Price was sentenced last June to life plus 55 years. The other men received lesser sentences.
-- Staff writer Bill Rankin contributed to this article.
District Attorney Darius Pattillo
Here’s a snapshot of Patillo, who was elected in November.
Age: 40
Residence: Ellenwood (Henry County side)
Background: Undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Georgia; Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney in DeKalb County; Assistant District Attorney of the Year in 2009; Criminal Justice Instructor at Georgia Piedmont College; volunteer high school mock trial coach and judge; motivational speaker at local public schools.
Family: Married with two children.
Key priorities: Focus more on crimes against women and children and create a pre-trial diversion program to help first-time non-violent offenders in Henry. “The DA should try to reduce crime by keeping kids out of the system,” Patillo said.
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