Bond was granted Tuesday, March 15, for a man accused of a shooting at Dogwood Terrace that occurred two months before pending murder charges were dismissed against him.
Charvez Lawson, 29, has pleaded not guilty in Richmond County Superior Court to 17 charges including aggravated assault and destruction of property. Judge Amanda Heath set bond at $60,000 for Lawson.
In setting the bond, Heath warned Lawson, “You don’t have any wiggle room here.”
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Lawson has been a marked man, prosecuting and defense attorneys agree, ever since a Dec. 7, 2019 shootout in the parking lot of the Private I Sports and Entertainment Center on Thomas Lane. That shooting left two men dead, Lawson’s brother 28-year-old Charles E. Lawson III and 23-year-old Jabrie Dominguez.
On Nov. 11, 2021, the district attorney’s office dropped murder charges against Lawson and Antoine Redfield, 22, who was also charged, because the prosecutor didn’t think it was possible to disprove each man fired in self-defense.
Before the charges were dismissed, on Sept. 1, 2021 at 2:37 a.m. there was a shooting at Dogwood Terrace. Assistant District Attorney Kevin Davis said Tuesday that Lawson was stopped near the scene of the shooting with a 9 mm handgun under the front seat of the vehicle he was driving.
Investigators believe Lawson and a second man were shooting at members of the Loyalty Over Everything gang who were in Dogwood Terrace to taunt the Bolt Alley Boys of the housing complex, Davis said. The two gangs had been feuding since the 2019 fatal shooting at the Private I, Davis said.
In addition to damaging vehicles during the Dogwood Terrace shooting, a woman and her three children were endangered when bullets flew through their home at the complex, Davis said.
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Defense attorney Keith Johnson said Lawson has not only been targeted but shot at. After he was arrested in connection with the Sept. 1 shooting, he was attacked in the jail, stabbed and beaten, Johnson said.
“He’s not safe at the local jail,” he said.
Lawson has no felony convictions on his record. He is actively engaged in raising his three children, and he maintains steady employment, Johnson said. There is a plan for him to live with a relative, and with electronic monitoring the judge can be assured he will not return to Dogwood Terrace, Johnson said.
Heath agreed that Lawson was entitled to bond and set it at $60,000. Electronic monitoring will be required, and Lawson is to be at home except for work, church and medical or legal appointments.
Sandy Hodson is a staff reporter covering courts for The Augusta Press. Reach her at sandy@theaugustapress.com.
