Man pleads guilty to striking, killing sculptor who was tapped to create MLK statue

In this March 2014 file photo, sculptor Andy Davis walks back to his seat after being greeted by guests before his Patrick Henry sculpture was dedicated in downtown McDonough. HYOSUB SHIN / HSHIN@AJC.COM

In this March 2014 file photo, sculptor Andy Davis walks back to his seat after being greeted by guests before his Patrick Henry sculpture was dedicated in downtown McDonough. HYOSUB SHIN / HSHIN@AJC.COM

A McDonough man pleaded guilty Wednesday to vehicular homicide in the death of an acclaimed local sculptor who  had been tapped to create a statue of Martin Luther King Jr. at the Georgia State Capitol.

Corey Ashton Sease, 23, struck and killed Andy Davis, 56, on July 11, 2015, at Jodeco Road and the ramp to I-75 in Henry County, Assistant District Attorney Megan Matteucci said in a statement Thursday.

Sease pleaded guilty to three counts of vehicular homicide, two counts of driving under the influence, and one count of reckless driving, Matteucci said.

Sease, who was 20 at the time, had alcohol and marijuana in his system at the time of the crash, prosecutors said. He was driving a truck, while Davis was on a motorcycle.

» MORE: Sculptor creating MLK statue for Capitol involved in crash

The incident came two weeks after Davis was chosen for the MLK project on the Capitol grounds.

A well-known local artist, Davis sculpted a life-size bronze statue of Ray Charles in Albany and a statue of Patrick Henry in McDonough.

Andy Davis (right) shows off his sculpture of Patrick Henry. (Credit: Andy Davis)

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"Why don't more people follow their dreams?" Davis asked in a 2014 interview with the AJC. "We'd have more skateboarders, more mountain climbers, more writers. There'd be more love-makers."

In an interview with WABE that aired just a few days before he was killed, Davis said being commissioned for the MLK sculpture by Gov. Nathan Deal was “a jovial burden,” and that he was “floating.”

» RELATED: MLK statue sculptor ‘no longer there’ after crash, family says

Sease is expected to be sentenced Dec. 17 in Henry County Superior Court.

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