A lawyer for the alleged triggerman in the robbery and fatal shooting of a 14-year-old Grayson High School student is asking a judge to reconsider his bond denial.
The new motion filed by defense attorney Tom West on behalf of Larnell Sillah, 15, states that testimony presented by a Gwinnett County police detective in a bond hearing March 5 falsely implicated Sillah in an unrelated burglary and may have made it seem that the teenager was on some sort of crime spree.
“The effect of the evidence submitted by the prosecution on this issue in the Court’s decision denying bond is unknown,” the motion states. “However, the possibility that the Court may have been misled on such a crucial issue makes the present motion imperative.”
Police say Paul Sampleton was bound and killed in his kitchen on Dec. 19, just minutes after he arrived home following early release from Grayson High for the holidays. Sillah and two other teenagers who were classmates of Sampleton are accused of targeting him because they coveted his expensive basketball shoes and electronics.
The burglary in question occurred on Carriage Court in Lawrenceville on Dec. 18, a day before Sampleton’s killing. The burglar was cut on a window shattered to gain entry and left blood at the scene. A witness described seeing a silver BMW in the area at the time of the break-in.
Gwinnett Police Detetective Andrew Whaley testified at the bond hearing that he was investigating Sillah in connection with the burglary, and that Sillah’s uncle was known to drive a silver BMW.
Blood samples from the burglary scene have since been analyzed, and Sillah’s blood does not match the burglary suspect’s, according to the motion that was filed Monday. A witness gave police a partial license plate number for the BMW, which also proved to be different from the license plate for the BMW driven by Sillah’s uncle, the motion stated.
Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Debra Turner has not yet scheduled a hearing on the renewed motion for bond. Sillah is being held at an area youth detention center on charges of murder and armed robbery in the Dec. 19 death of Paul Sampleton.
About the Author
