A man was sentenced to 15 years in prison after being convicted of fighting another man in a McDonald’s parking lot and then chasing him with a stolen gun in 2018.
Tyrell Maleek Corley, 24, was also found guilty of numerous drug charges after police found several illegal substances on him while taking him into custody, according to District Attorney Shannon Wallace.
Corley’s trial, which was the first jury trial Cherokee County has held since February 2020, was fraught by a lack of witnesses due to the suspect’s alleged affiliation with a gang.
“The defendant relied on the gang culture of silence to protect him from accountability, but the jury saw through that and recognized him for the danger that he poses to our community,” said Assistant District Attorney Rachel Ashe, who prosecuted the case.
Investigators said on June 6, 2018, Corley and the other man got into a fistfight in the parking lot of a McDonald’s on Ridge Road in Canton. During the fight, Corley pulled out a gun and started chasing the man.
Corley then gave the gun to a 17-year-old girl, and she hid the firearm in a trashcan nearby, Wallace said.
When police arrived to investigate the incident, Corley told officers he was the victim, according to Wallace.
“But Canton police officers were able to determine his involvement after interviewing witnesses on the scene and reviewing surveillance footage,” she said.
Officers also found the gun and determined it had been stolen. Corley was arrested shortly after.
When Corley arrived at the Cherokee County Jail, deputies searched him and found nine pills that “tested positive as a schedule IV controlled substance,” Wallace said. Investigators also determined he was a member of Sex-Money-Murder, which is a subset of the Bloods gang.
“One of Corley’s tattoos suggests that he holds ‘rank’ in the Bloods,” Wallace said. “Corley’s gang affiliation complicated the investigation and prosecution of the case since many witnesses were unwilling to be forthcoming or cooperative.”
After the three-day trial, the jury deliberated for two hours and unanimously found Corley guilty. In addition to aggravated assault, he was convicted of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, theft by receiving stolen property, possession of a schedule IV controlled substance, tampering with evidence, crossing the guard lines with drugs and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
“Corley was also found to be a recidivist offender under Georgia law, which requires him to serve the maximum sentence,” Wallace said.
In addition to 15 years in custody, Corley was sentenced to 15 years on probation, 120 hours of community service and substance abuse evaluation. He also was ordered not to use alcohol or drugs, possess weapons or associate with other gang members, and was barred from entering Cherokee County, Wallace said.
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