TRUTH HUNTER
INVESTIGATIONS
Gwinnett County, Georgia
Not Guilty
Investigation
Homicide Investigation
Year
2025
Location
Gwinnett County, Georgia
Retained By
Scott Smith, Peach State Law
Objective
Conduct a full homicide investigation centered on self-defense. Develop reverse 404(b) evidence regarding the decedent and the State’s witnesses. Review jail calls, cell phone extractions, and social media. Locate and interview witnesses law enforcement did not identify. Return to the crime scene for additional evidence.
The Work
Behind the
Record.
How Did Truth Hunter Investigations Play a Part?
This was a homicide in which the defense theory was self-defense, and the character and prior conduct of both the decedent and key State witnesses were going to matter. The original investigation treated the shooting as a one-direction event. It did not build the history of the people involved, did not exhaust the witness list, and did not treat the digital record as a timeline that could confirm or break the State’s account.
Jail calls were reviewed for statements, coordination, and contradictions. Cell phone extractions and social media records were analyzed for communications leading up to the incident, location-relevant data, and post-event statements. Witnesses already in the file were re-interviewed. Witnesses who were never identified by law enforcement were located and documented. The crime scene was processed again to determine whether additional physical evidence had been left on the ground.
“Reverse 404(b)” and intrinsic evidence regarding the decedent and States star witness were members of the same criminal street gang were developed so counsel could litigate what the jury was entitled to hear about the people the State was asking it to believe. The investigation was used to test the State’s theory against what a complete homicide file should have contained. This was the first time in Georgia’s history that a defense motion regarding “Reverse 404(b)” motion to introduce criminal street gang evidence on the decedent and states witnesses has been submitted.
Jury trial charges: Malice Murder, Murder, Felony Murder, Armed Robbery, Aggravated Assault, Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony.
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INVESTIGATIONS
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