Macon – Bibb County jurors deliberated for more than two hours Thursday before finding a man guilty of malice murder in the 2016 fatal shooting of 37-year-old Marcus Braswell.
Brandon Trayvon Haywood, 27, also was found guilty of felony murder and aggravated assault. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Prosecutors John Regan and Tommy Williams presented evidence during the three-day trial showing Braswell and his two codefendants – Lisa Ann Harris, 33, and Andre Diontea Jackson, 23 – devised a plan to rob Braswell at his home on Poppy Avenue where he sold drugs.
Harris and Jackson, who each have entered guilty pleas in the case, testified about the events on the day of the killing. Both identified Braswell on home security video that captured images before and after the incident.
Harris testified she waited outside after helping get the door open for Jackson and Haywood.
The video shows Haywood holding a .40-caliber gun with an extended magazine as he entered the home.
Physical evidence corroborates Jackson’s testimony that Haywood shot Braswell in the face and then stood over Braswell as he fired a second shot into his back. Braswell’s girlfriend also corroborated Jackson’s testimony, saying she heard two shots after being forced to lie down on the floor at gunpoint.
Haywood, Harris and Jackson were in a car that led a Bibb County on a high-speed chase less than 24 hours after the killing. The .40-caliber gun was recovered from the car and a GBI firearms expert testified the gun matched bullets that killed Braswell.
Speaking after the trial, Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney David Cooke said, “Mr. Haywood thought he’d get a free pass when he robbed and killed a drug dealer in his own home, but the law protects everyone’s right to be safe — no matter their imperfections. His codefendants owned up to their crimes and accepted their punishment. Now the jury has agreed that Mr. Haywood should be held accountable too.”
For more news from the District Attorney’s Office, follow on Twitter @DA_DavidCooke, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DADavidCooke and on Instagram at da_davidcooke.
Contact: Amy Leigh Womack
478-621-6179 (office)
478-319-2529 (cell)
