A McDuffie County man is appealing his murder conviction for a 2016 killing at a Thomson car wash site to the Supreme Court of Georgia.
Ricquauvius Tarver, 31, was found guilty of malice murder in the shooting death of Roosevelt Demmons by a McDuffie jury in 2018.
Chief Toombs Circuit Judge Harold Hinseley sentenced Tarver to life plus five years, giving him a chance for release in 30 or fewer years.
Tarver, who lived in Warrenton, has claimed self-defense in the death of Demmons, 32, which took place at CC’s car wash in Thomson.
The son of a Taliaferro County sheriff’s deputy, Tarver’s lawyers say his legs had previously been crushed in a trash compactor,
He was, at age 22, defending himself against someone who had repeatedly threatened his and others’ lives, they said.
Tarver is represented by attorneys Danny Durham of Augusta and Cheryl Gracey of the Dallas Law Firm in Thomson, according to prior reports.
Toombs DA Bill Doupe and ADA Debra Rhodes Neumann are prosecuting.
In his appeal, Tarver argued that because self-defense was an issue, he should have been allowed to testify to the jury about Demmons’ violent history, according to a news release.
He also claims his video interview with police should have been shown to the jury, rather than excluded as hearsay.
Prosecutors say the testimony was properly excluded due to lack of evidence to support a self-defense claim, and that trial counsel failed to preserve evidence of the claim.
The Supreme Court of Georgia hears oral arguments April 18 in the case. They will be livestreamed here.
