A Columbia County jury deliberated one hour Thursday, Feb. 23 before finding an Appling man guilty on all counts growing out of a 2020 fatal roadway crash.
Family members of Morgan Shea, who was 20 when she died, broke down after the verdict, declining to address the court ahead of the sentencing of Bentley DeVore.
DeVore, 22, was charged with vehicular homicide, DUI, reckless driving, driving with a suspended license, failure to maintain lane and having an open container of alcohol in the crash of a two-seater utility-terrain vehicle.
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Columbia County Superior Court Judge J. Wade Padgett sentenced DeVore to serve 16 years in prison after the four-day trial.
DeVore has been in prison since 2020, when his first offender sentence for fleeing police and criminal damage to property was revoked due to the new charges.
In closing arguments Thursday, visiting prosecutor McKenzie Gray reminded jurors that Brock DeVore, Bentley DeVore’s twin brother, could not testify due to his unrelated death last year.
Gray, assistant district attorney for the Middle Georgia Circuit, was assigned to the case after Columbia County District Attorney Bobby Christine recused himself due to a conflict.
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Defense attorney Leah Abbasi argued prosecutors hadn’t ruled out the possibility that Shea was driving, rather than her client.
It made sense, Abbasi said, that DeVore and Shea would have switched seats after they left DeVore’s house where they and friends were partying.
Abbasi raised numerous questions about Columbia County’s investigation of the wreck, including why a nurse who responded was not interviewed, sources of evidence weren’t logged, a blood test wasn’t ordered, DNA evidence wasn’t tested, no crash speed was determined, investigators didn’t visit the DeVore house and no crime scene log was kept.
The Georgia State Patrol’s Specialized Crash Reconstruction Team, or SCRT, was available but not requested, she said.
“What all of these failure do is they leave holes in the evidence,” Abassi said.
McKenzie said the defense’s version of the crash would have required the UTV to roll over Shea’s body, which had no crush injuries, only a fatal head injury from being thrown at high speed from the vehicle.
Susan McCord is a staff writer with The Augusta Press. Reach her at susan@theaugustapress.com
