A 33-year-old felon convicted of numerous crimes throughout metro Atlanta will now spend the rest of his life in prison after representing himself in a Cobb County trial.
Joshua Coleman, 33 of College Park, was found guilty Friday of carjacking two Cobb car salesmen while on test drives in 2015, according to the county district attorney’s office.
Coleman has at least six prior felony convictions in DeKalb and Fulton counties for crimes including robbery, possessing marijuana and possessing a firearm as a felon.
As a repeat offender, Cobb Superior Court Judge Mary Staley Clark gave Coleman the maximum sentence of life without parole plus 75 years.
The trouble started Sept. 17, 2015, when Coleman was test-driving a Nissan Sentra at a CarMax.
In the middle of the drive, he stopped the car, showed the salesman a gun and said “I know you like your job, but you need to get out of the car,” the DA’s office said in a news release. Then Coleman drove off.
Six days later, Coleman was test-driving a pickup truck at Steve Rayman Chevrolet in Smyrna when he told that salesman he had a gun and made a similar comment telling the salesman to get out.
The truck was equipped with a LoJack vehicle recovery system, so police tracked the truck to Coleman’s home on Jerome Road.
When Fulton police got to the house, they saw Coleman get out of the pickup and run inside.
SWAT team members used flash-bang grenades before swarming the home. Officers found Coleman hiding in the basement.
They found the Nissan several weeks later at Town Center Mall in Kennesaw when it was reported as abandoned. In the car, investigators also found several documents with Coleman’s name and address.
Coleman gave both dealerships false identification before the test drives, said prosecutor Stephanie Adrean.
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