A man convicted in 2016 of murder in a cold case homicide was fairly tried and convicted, the Georgia Supreme Court has found.
In an opinion released Tuesday, Aug. 9, the state’s highest court affirmed Woodrow Carter’s murder conviction in the July 20, 2001, slaying of 30-year-old James Mills of Atlanta.
Carter and three other men were waiting for Mills inside an Augusta apartment that day. When Mills show up with 2 kilograms of cocaine, he was beaten, bound with duct tape and strangled to death, according to new reports from 2010, the year investigators learned Mills had been killed in Augusta.
Mills’ body was buried in the backyard of Carter’s home in Aiken County. His family didn’t know what had happened for nine years.
Carter, 47, was the only one of four men charged who stood trial in Richmond County Superior Court. He was convicted in 2016 and sentenced to life in prison. Derrick Robinson, 44, and Marquise Redfield, 46, each pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and were sentenced to 20 years in prison. Marcus McCladdie, 46, was sentenced to nine years of probation for concealing the death of another.
Sandy Hodson is a staff reporter covering courts for The Augusta Press. Reach her at sandy@theaugustapress.com.
