MARIETTA — A Cobb County jury convicted a Brunswick man Friday of killing a sleeping baby in his stroller.
Prosecutors say De’Marquise “Marky” Elkins killed 13-month-old Antonio Santiago and shot his mother, Sherry West, because she wouldn’t give up her purse as Elkins demanded during a March 21 robbery. West received a gunshot wound in the leg and testified against Elkins.
Elkins faces life in prison. Because he was 17 at the time of the crime, he cannot be given the death penalty. Kelley will set the sentence at a later date back in Brunswick where he will decide whether Elkins will be eligible for parole.
His attorney Kevin Gough issued a prepared statement that he plans to appeal. He told reporters the all-white jury could be one basis for requesting a new trial.
“If you were a 17-year-old black man from Brunswick, Ga., and you were expecting a trial of your peers and 12 white people showed up to try your case, however hardworking, however impartial, you could understand why Mr. Elkins would be concerned,” he said.
The jury of nine men and three women deliberated two hours and also convicted him of an attempted robbery 10 days earlier that resulted in a pastor being shot in the arm.
The pastor, Rev. Wilfredo Calix-Flores and two co-defendants from both crimes all testified against Elkins.
Attorneys completed their closing arguments at noon, and Glynn County Superior Court Judge Stephen Kelley read them a lengthy set of instructions about the law.
The two-week trial of Elkins, age 18, was held in Cobb County because of the amount of news coverage in this case that has drawn international attention.
Defense attorney Jonathan Lockwood said in closing arguments that Brunswick police got the wrong guy based on the misidentification of the upset mother, Sherry West, and biased witnesses, and then detectives refused to consider any other suspects. Instead, they made their evidence fit the case they wanted instead of vice versa, he said.
“They already had their guy. They were only going to look at that,” he said. “They were only going to look at that. They were going to pretty it up.”
Lockwood argued that Elkins’ co-defendant Dominique Lang, 15, was the actual shooter and that he implicated Elkins to protect his cousin and best friend, Joe Lang, who was also supposedly involved.
Both Langs testified against Elkins. Dominique Lang is also charged with murder and will be tried later.
Lockwood reminded jurors of how many witnesses had admitted to lying about various details, including both Langs.
District Attorney Jackie Johnson responded by holding up still images from various security video cameras that she said substantiate those witnesses.
“The video can’t conspire with those ‘making up stories’,” she said. “... All these ‘liars’ are telling you what happened in the case, but what they’re telling you matches up with the videotape.”
Elkins’ mother Karimah Elkins was tried with him and was also convicted of evidence tampering for tossing the murder weapon into a salt pond but found not guilty of giving a false alibi. Prosecutors dropped a charge against her of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon because they couldn’t come up with paperwork on her guilty plea in October. They intend to charge her again.
Her attorney, Wrix McIlvaine, said he would have to confer with her about whether to appeal her evidence-tampering conviction. Her daughter Sabrina Elkins, 19, also faces evidence-tampering charges and will be tried later.
Johnson accused De’Marquise Elkins of preying on the weak. He decided to rob Calix-Flores because he believed Hispanics were less likely to put up a fight or report the crime, she said, and he attempted to rob West because a mother with a baby is also vulnerable.
“I don’t know anyone more weak than a sleeping baby,” Johnson said.
McIlvaine offered his observation about the Elkins family members with their multiple brushes with the law.
“I think crime is borne out of poverty and lack of education and any number of factors, and the Elkins family has had a hard go of it,” he said. “... I don’t believe they’re a violent family. I don’t think there is a Violent Criminal Family (type). They are just products of their environment.”