• Joeff Davis
• The Pittsburgh convenience store where Brandon White was attacked

On February 4, 20-year-old Brandon White was brutally attacked as exited a convenience store in southwest Atlanta's Pittsburgh neighborhood. Three men punched him, pushed him to the ground, and kicked him once he was down. The entire thing was caught on video — video that was subsequently posted to the internet, presumably by the attackers themselves. "No faggots in Jack City," one of the men says prior to the attack, a statement many believe makes the motive pretty obvious. White was beaten because he's gay.

The case, which shook both southwest Atlanta and the local LGBT community, is headed to court on Tuesday, according to Georgia Equality. Four men, Dorian Moragne, Christopher Cain, Darael Demare Williams, and Javaris Bradford, are being charged with robbery, aggravated assault, and participation in criminal street gang activity. Moragne, Cain, and Williams — all of whom have extensive criminal records — were apprehended shortly after the attack. There appears to be some confusion about the apprehension of the fourth man, Javaris Bradford (he's not listed as an inmate at the Fulton County Jail; the APD is checking to see if he was ever captured).

In case you missed it, check out CL's recent cover story about the aftermath of White's attack.

H/T Project Q

• Ameen Jones

Atlanta Police caught a guy, 26-year-old Ameen Jones, who has been trolling neighborhoods, finding homes with cars in their driveways, and then selling the cars to recycling companies. Police were apparently alerted by one such company when Jones tried to sell a car that was parked at Donnelly Avenue in West End.

Police couldn't say exactly how many times Jones has pulled off the scam — which seems risky since cars in driveways usually mean people are home and might notice when a tow truck drives up and some guy with long, flowing dreadlocks collects money for their car — just that he'd done it "several times." Sgt. Curtis Davenport says, "Investigators are still working to locate victims now." Sorry in advance if your car was stolen is currently being dismantled for parts.

As we reported last week, there's a chance that Johnquavious Hood, a member of the gang 30 Deep who is believed to have been involved in the 2009 shooting death of Standard Food & Spirits bartender John Henderson, could be let out of prison as early as this Saturday. He's currently imprisoned at Georgia State Prison for crimes not related to the Standard shooting — theft, burglary, gang participation, and agg assault among them — and despite earlier indications that District Attorney Paul Howard's office would pursue charges for Henderson's murder, no charges have been filed. Although his scheduled release date is December 14 of this year, Hood could be let out this week on work release. Many people don't want to see that happen.

Just under 2,400 people have signed a petition urging the Georgia Board of Pardons to keep Hood locked up until December, which they hope will give the DA's office time to press charges. Here's an example of comments accompanying the signatures:

"Keep Johnquavious Hood incarcerated until December 14th, so that charges can be filed; he should not be allowed to rejoin his gang and return to a life of crime."

"Please let justice run it's course. This man should be in jail until the court has the opportunity to try him."

"It is unbelievable to me that this murderer should be released. It absolutely cannot be allowed—if there is the smallest speck of justice in this United States."

"Keep our neighborhood safe. We don't need the likes of Mr. Hood back on the street."

The petition's creators initially set out to collect 3,000 signatures, but plan to deliver it to the Board of Pardons and Paroles tomorrow.

WSB-TV reports that Atlanta police are developing a new tool to combat aggressive, cross-dressing hookers, which residents say have become a plague upon their neighborhood. I encourage you to click here and watch their report. An excerpt ...

Neighbors complained to police that cross-dressing prostitutes are aggressive and have them afraid for their safety.

Midtown resident Graham Balch told Channel 2's Amy Napier Viteri that prostitutes have confronted him on several occasions.

"I have experienced some who are very aggressive to me. Who swore at me, came after me," Balch said.

Balch said he sees two to six prostitutes every morning around 6:30 a.m. as he leaves his Myrtle Street home for work.

Balch also says the prostitutes leave drug paraphernalia strewn hither and thither — his 4-year-old daughter apparently picked up a pink dime bag and asked if she could keep it, not realizing it was empty (jk) — and that the Johns who solicit their services are also aggressive and scary. But don't worry! The police have a tool!

Lieutenant "Casual Wednesday" Kreher (he's a vice officer I GET IT) says, "It's a little premature to talk about right now, but it is another tool that will help us fight this particular crime."

Often police won't discuss their methods for fighting crime, but I'm just so curious about this fledgling tool. Exploding hypodermic needles? Wigs with razorblades in them? Feel free to venture a guess in the comments.

We've requested but haven't yet received the incident report from DeKalb County Police, but several accounts indicate that Mitt Lenix was shot and killed at Starlight Drive-In for simply asking for help.

Early Tuesday morning, Lenix — a 28-year-old martial artist who operates a studio with his parents in Stockbridge — apparently knocked on Quentric S. Williams' car window to ask for a jump — very normal, very common thing to do at Starlight. But, sources say Williams reacted by shooting Lenix and then driving off. Lenix later died in the hospital. Williams was pursued by police to the Gwinnett County line where he wrecked his truck and fled on foot. He's still on the lam.

And then there was a second tragedy. As a DeKalb County officer sped down Memorial Drive to respond to a call about the shooting at Starlight, he struck and killed 27-year-old pedestrian Clifton Hightower who was crossing the road, police say, not in a crosswalk. It appears the officer, Jason Copper, might have had his lights on, but preliminary information indicates he was not running his siren.

In the aftermath of a deadly Monday night, DeKalb Police are investigating Officer Copper and their search for Lenix's accused shooter, Quentric Williams, continues. Starlight Drive-In is open for business, and — following some initial confusion — a memorial fund has been established by the drive-in, in conjunction with the Lenix family, to raise money for martial arts training for young people in Mitt's memory.

A message from that page ...

The Starlight Drive-In Family is devastated by the senseless and terrible events that took place on the night of May 14th. We do not accept that this is the way our neighborhood or City behaves. We do not accept that one person can hurt so many with a senseless act and we sit by and do nothing.

The Starlight Family of patrons is generations deep, and mightily strong through the love of family, community and tradition. The Starlight has welcomed all walks of life, ages and races since we opened in 1949, and will continue to do so for another 60 years.

Mitt Lenix and the sacrifice he made must be used as a galvanizing force to make this a better City.
A City where things like this, happens to no one.

More details when DeKalb Police release the reports associated with both incidents.

• Joeff Davis/CL File
• A tribute to John Henderson on the sign outside the Standard after his 2009 murder

In mid-March 2011, Jonathan Redding was sentenced to life-plus-70 years in prison for his involvement in the 2009 shooting death of bartender John Henderson at Standard Food & Spirits in Grant Park. A jury convicted Redding of felony murder, meaning that even if he didn't fire the shots that killed Henderson, he was present and in the process of committing a felony — armed robbery — when Henderson was killed. In fact, during Redding's trial, both the prosecution and the defense hinted at the possibility that it wasn't Redding who pulled the trigger, rather another member of the gang 30 Deep, Johnquavious Hood, known as "Nuk" (pronouced "Nuke") or Lil' Nuk on the street.

But in the year that's elapsed since Redding's trial and conviction, murder charges have not been filed against Hood. And, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections, he could be released from prison (where he was serving time for other crimes) as early as next week.

Hood testified during Redding's trial, if it can even be considered testifying. Here's a look at Hood's appearance in court from an article we printed last year ...

During Redding’s trial, the prosecution called on 30 Deep member Johnquavious Hood — who’s currently incarcerated out of county — to testify. Shackled at the wrists and ankles and wearing navy blue prison scrubs, Hood was largely uncooperative, offering little more than yes or no answers to the questions asked of him. Hood balked at the repeated reference to 30 Deep as a “gang,” insisting instead that it’s a “family.” “What’s the family about,” prosecutor Lance Cross asked him. “We get money … however we plan to get it,” Hood replied. Both the prosecution and the defense expressed the belief that it was Hood, not Redding, who fired the fatal shots the night of the Standard murder. Even if Redding knows it was Hood’s doing, he won’t say. Redding refused to testify on his own behalf. “I don’t want to testify,” he muttered, shaking his head, when Judge Adams explained that option.

During Redding's trial, CL spoke with District Attorney Paul Howard about the possibility that Hood would be indicted in the near future. Everyone in the courtroom — prosecutors, even public defenders — seemed convinced he was present the night that Henderson was killed, and, in fact, was an active participant in the murder. Howard wouldn't say when Hood would be indicted, just that his office was building a case and wanted to "be careful" and make sure their case against him was strong. "In a case like this, you want to make sure," Howard said. "It's safe to say we're still investigating [Hood's role]. As with some of the other cases in our community, we're not going to forget about it.”

So, how is it that a year later Hood still hasn't been indicted? I contacted Howard's office yesterday afternoon requesting that he speak with me about it, but my request hasn't been answered (and there's a good chance Howard won't discuss the case). A DA spokesperson has simply said that their investigation is continuing.

In the meantime, an online petition has been circulating that urges the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to keep Hood incarcerated. Nine hundred forty five people have signed so far.

• Future president of West Virginia

2. North Carolinians came to the polls in record numbers to make their's the 30th state to approve a constitutional ban of same sex marriages, partnerships, and civil unions. The amendment says that "marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this state," language which some say also jeopardizes the legal rights associated with common law marriages between straight people. Way to make this about you, straight people of North Carolina.

3. And, in Georgia, don't do anything fun this summer or you'll probably get a flesh eating disease.

During '03, '04, and '05 — the year before Georgia passed its controversial "Stand Your Ground" law in '06 — there were a total of 21 justifiable homicides in Georgia, seven a year on average.

During the several years that followed the law's passage — '07 to '11 — there were 65 justifiable homicides, or an average of 13 a year.

Justifiable homicides have nearly doubled since the law went into effect, and effectively broadened the circumstances under which citizens can use deadly force against people presumed to be threats to their property or well being. Meanwhile, the overall murder rate has continued to plummet.

This info is the result of an Associated Press analysis of Georgia Bureau of Investigation data. But the analysis ends there.

OK, so, presumably, a couple of things could be happening here:
A. Citizens have been emboldened by "Stand Your Ground" and more people are shooting people they perceive to be a threat.
B. The law broadened what constitutes a justifiable homicide, so more homicides are being classified as justifiable.

Currently, no one seems to know which is the case. Or they don't want to say. The AP writes, "Prosecutors and criminologists aren't certain why the number of justifiable homicides has jumped, but several were reluctant to tie the increase to the stand your ground statute."

And here's a non-explanation from Tim Vaughn, Oconee County's District Attorney:
"I don't sense that the statute has led to a greater change. You just have to apply common sense when evaluating the facts of each situation, and ask what a reasonable person would do in each particular situation. And I don't think that it's been a drastic change if you just apply that rationale."

Hm. Maybe more analysis is in order? Thoughts?