Macon – Two men pleaded guilty Tuesday to armed robbery and voluntary manslaughter in the 2016 shooting death of Rollie Bowden Vaughn on Macon’s Bethune Avenue.
Jarodney M. Newberry, 24, and Rashad Deangelo Brown, 21, were sentenced to serve 30 years in prison. Twenty of the years must be served without the possibility of parole.
If the case had gone to trial, prosecutor Sandra Matson would have presented evidence showing:
Newberry and Brown went to a house on Bethune Avenue in East Macon on Sept. 15, 2016, to conduct a drug transaction with Vaughn. An argument broke out during the sale after it appeared that Newberry and Brown instead intended to rob Vaughn. Brown pulled out a gun and Vaughn was shot twice during what Brown later described as a struggle over the weapon.
Bibb County deputies were called just after 2 p.m. and found Vaughn on the ground outside the house. Witnesses provided enough information for deputies to begin searching for two suspects and a car.
A woman heard about the incident, and reported to police that men matching the same description in the same vehicle had been involved in a similar armed robbery related to a drug deal days earlier in Clayton County.
Speaking after the hearing, District Attorney David Cooke said, “A bag of marijuana cost Mr. Vaughn his life and Mr. Newberry and Mr. Brown their freedom. Violence like this won’t be tolerated in our community.”
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)