GA Supreme Court skeptical in appeal by man convicted of killing 3 in Savannah car chase

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Georgia Supreme Court

Credit: Georgia Recorder

Jake Shore, The Current

Georgia Supreme Court justices expressed heavy skepticism about arguments made to appeal the conviction of Jerry Chambers, found guilty of killing three people, including the former general manager of The Grey, during a 2017 car chase in downtown Savannah.

Lawyers for Chambers, who was 17 at the time of the deadly chase and is now serving three life sentences, and the Chatham County District Attorney’s office argued their sides to the justices on Tuesday. Chambers’ attorney is seeking a new trial for her client, arguing that prosecutors failed to provide evidence that the Savannah Police Department officers who chased him were properly identified as police, a key element of Georgia law that forbids fleeing or trying to elude law enforcement.

Chief Justice Michael Boggs, however, suggested that the jury could have reasonably reached the conclusion that the officers chasing Chambers in a marked patrol car with lights and sirens were police officers, even without specific assurances that they were in uniform.

“It’s common for citizens to expect that police officers wear guns and badges,” Boggs said.

On July 5, 2017, after Savannah’s annual Fourth of July fireworks downtown, Chambers, along with two young men, fled a shooting in City Market. While police chased the vehicle, Chambers fatally struck Scott Waldrup as he crossed the street. Chambers’ two passengers, Gabriel Magulias and Spencer Stucky, were killed shortly afterward when Chambers struck a light pole on Bay Street, according to court records.

Chambers’ appeal stems from testimony made during his March 2020 jury trial. 

“The State (must) prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer signaling Chambers to stop was uniformed and prominently displaying his badge, but no evidence was offered to support this element of the offense,” according to Kaitlyn Walker, Chambers’ lawyer and a Chatham County public defender. Without proving this underlying offense, all Chambers’ convictions should be vacated, she claimed.

The Chatham County jury found Chambers guilty on multiple counts of felony murder, running from police and vehicular manslaughter. He was acquitted on shooting and gang charges. A judge sentenced him to three concurrent life sentences.

While evidence in trial did find the officers chasing Chambers were in a marked patrol car, the official evidence record did not make clear the officers were in uniform and their badges displayed, according to Walker, which is what the law states. The DA’s office said that Chambers knew he was fleeing from police and the evidence shows that.

During Tuesday’s arguments, the specifics of what the officers were wearing and when were critical. Some justices felt like all this could have been avoided, if the former prosecutor on the case, Matt Breedon, had asked the officers on the stand during the 2020 trial if they were in uniform or not.

“The whole reason we’re here is because that simple question did not get asked,” Justice Nels Peterson said. 

Uniformed and badged?

Two of the officers who chased Chambers were in the midst of clocking out after a long night of patrolling July 4 festivities. 

After midnight at the East Lathrop precinct, SPD officers Amanda Brooner and Dennis Sylvester were transferring their equipment into their personal cars and taking off their body cameras, when a call came in about a suspect SUV driving away from the City Market shooting, court records state. They decided to help look for the car and got back on the road, when they encountered the car driven by Chambers.

Briefs filed by the Chatham County District Attorney’s office and the Georgia Attorney General’s office disputing Chambers’ appeal argue that multiple videos captured the chase, showing a marked police car and emergency lights activated when officers tried to stop Chambers. The officers wore shirts that stated “Police” on them.

The spirit of the law, they argue, would not support invalidating a conviction because the officer was driving a marked police car but not a uniform. 

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Scott Waldrup died on July 5, 2017, after being struck by a teenager fleeing a shooting in downtown Savannah. “Scott was insatiably curious, a lifelong student of the world and its history. And he left the world a better place for having been a part of it,” his obituary stated. 

Credit: Obituary page

“The statute criminalizes flight from either a police officer on foot in uniform, or flight from a properly marked police vehicle,” the AG’s brief stated. “The import of each requirement is clearly to ensure that the offender knows that he or she is fleeing or eluding a police officer.”

Chambers has spent the last four years in prison and is currently at Dooly State Prison in Middle Georgia. The original indictment said Chambers was acting on behalf of the “Only tha Mob” (OTM) gang in Savannah but he was never convicted on Georgia’s gang statute.

OTM is a neighborhood-based gang with associations to the Crips in California, federal prosecutors have alleged, when they also tied rapper Tyquian Bowman, known as Quando Rondo, to the gang earlier this summer.

Waldrup’s death devastated his many friends and colleagues in Savannah. He was the general manager of The Grey. 

At an event honoring his life, Waldrup’s mother, Terry, said she was proud of her son. “He loved Savannah,” she said. “Savannah loved him back.” 

Editor’s Note: Johno Morisano, the co-owner of The Grey, co-founded The Current in 2020. He is a member of the news organization’s governing board and a major donor.