A Buford man who attempted to rob a then-teenager in 2021 will spend the rest of his life in prison.
On Thursday, a Gwinnett County jury found Jaiden Williams, 20, guilty of two counts of murder, aggravated assault, attempted commission of a felony and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony for the July 26, 2021, gunshot death of 17-year-old Orbit Pough III.
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Williams, who was 17 in 2021, told Pough he wanted to buy a TCH vape cartridge, but evidence showed Williams had no money on him when he met Pough in the parking lot of the Kroger store in Grayson.
According to investigators, he did indeed have a weapon with him.
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During the trial, Williams maintained that he and Pough were friends, but prosecutors said evidence showed the two were strangers.
Williams told police that the night he shot Pough, he was in a car with him on the way to a drug deal. Williams told detectives that he shot Pough when he (Pough) started to look suspicious.
As the investigation continued, police discovered that Pough had died from a gunshot wound to the side and barrel burns from a close-range shooting.
Pough also had a gun, but did not pull it until after Williams shot him. Pough died, but he was able to shoot Williams as well, hitting him in the neck, paralyzing him from the waist down.
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“The victim’s family suffered a tragic loss,” said District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson. “The defendant was only 17 years old when he took the victim’s life. This sentence will be a long and hard lesson for him to learn. But we simply cannot tolerate our young people going down such violent paths.”
Williams was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole, plus five years probation.
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