Chatham DA dismissing 6 murder cases after 2 former Savannah police officers indicted for perjury

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Chatham County District Attorney Shalena Cook Jones speaks at a news conference outside her office at the Chatham County Courthouse in Savannah on Aug. 22, 2024.

Credit: Benjamin Payne / GPB News

Chatham County District Attorney Shalena Cook Jones announced Thursday that she is in the process of dismissing six murder cases, after determining that two former Savannah police officers under indictment for perjury were involved in the cases' investigations.

Ashley Wood and Darryl Repress were fired from the Savannah Police Department in 2023 after Wood falsified information to obtain search warrants and Repress was found to be having a relationship with an informant.

The two were later indicted last May by a Chatham County grand jury for perjury and violation of oath of office.

Cook Jones said that after the indictments were handed down, her office “undertook the tedious duty of reviewing each and every case that those officers touched to make sure that any pleas or trials were supported by viable, admissible evidence.”

For the six cases which were determined to have contained critical testimony or other key evidence presented by Wood or Repress, Cook Jones said that she informed the slain victims' family members of the dismissals, as required by law, before publicly announcing them.

“Those families suffer a grave injustice, not just because they lost a family member, but also because the criminal justice process will not be able to secure convictions in those cases for various legal and evidentiary reasons,” Cook Jones said. “Our hearts go out to them.”

Defendants in the six cases include Marquis Parrish, Stanley Hall, Jerell Williams, John Baker, Rakeem Carlton and Gilberto Mojica-Ravelo.

Parrish had been charged in the 2021 killing of Charles Vinson; Hall, Williams and Baker had been charged in the 2015 triple homicide of Anderson Mells, Gary Mells and Johnny Green; Carlton had been charged in the 2016 killing of Hannah Brown; and Mojica-Ravelo had been charged with aggravated assault in connection with that same incident.

Not all cases in which Wood or Repress had involvement were dismissed. Deputy Chief of Superior Court Brian DeBlasiis said that prosecutors reviewed “well over 50” cases, but could not provide an exact number.

Cook Jones said that it is unlikely that she would reopen any of the dismissed cases, but added that it could become possible if new evidence comes to light. She encouraged anyone with information about the killings to contact her office.