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 granting a bond for his client.
Tom West, attorney for Larnell Sillah, filed a motion stating testimony presented by a Gwinnett County police detective in a bond hearing March 5 falsely implicated Sillah in a burglary that occurred Dec. 18 on Carriage Court in Lawrenceville. The burglar cut himself or herself on a glass window that was shattered to gain entry and left blood at the scene. A witness also 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 a new motion for bond filed Monday. The witness description of the BMW and its license plate number also proved to be different than the BMW driven by Sillah’s uncle, the motion stated.
Sillah’s lawyer is asking Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Debra Turner to reconsider the request for bond for Sillah, who is 15 years old, because the detective’s testimony may have unduly influenced her earlier decision to deny 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.
Sampleton was bound and killed in his kitchen just minutes after he arrived home following early release from Grayson High for the holidays. Gwinnett County police said that Sillah and two other teenagers who were classmates of Sampleton targeted him because they coveted his expensive basketball shoes and electronics.
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