An inmate who sent Fulton County jailers scrambling during a lockdown this summer after a gun incident was given a life-plus-25 years prison sentence for killing a man two years earlier.
Kortez Hurt, 28, was convicted in Fulton County court on felony murder, drug, weapons and other charges in the death of Michael Ray of Atlanta in June 2009.
Hurt’s conviction caps a string of alleged crimes in Fulton that records show extended back to 2004, when the offences were relatively minor compared with the alleged crimes in proceeding years.
In 2004, the charges included forgery, receiving stolen property and traffic violations. By 2005 the charges included cocaine and marijuana possession. By 2008 Hurt was facing aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and kidnapping charges.
Authorities say on June 8, 2009, Ray was found dead on the kitchen floor of his Langston Avenue Apartment with a gunshot to the head. Anonymous tips led police to Hurt, who tipsters said had confessed to killing Ray after he resisted a robbery attempt.
Even though the murder weapon was found in Hurt’s home, he told police he’d gone to Ray’s home to purchase drugs but knew nothing of his killing.
While awaiting trial this year in the Fulton jail, authorities say Hurt obtained a gun and shot another inmate in the hand.
The jail said in a statement that Hurt and the other inmate had a dispute concerning the commissary. Hurt shot the inmate with a gun "no larger than a mobile telephone," a spokesman said at the time. The jail did not say how Hurt obtained the weapon.
In addition to the string of charges since 2004, Hurt also faced charges of of aggravated assault and party to a gang in the jail incident.
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