Man Convicted Of ATL Teen's Murder Appealing Case

ATLANTA, GA — Georgia's high court will hear appeal arguments next week from one of two men convicted of murder in the 2019 fatal shooting of a 15-year-old boy in Atlanta.

According to court documents obtained by Patch, Damone Blalock was convicted of murder and gang-related charges on Sept. 30, 2021, in Fulton County. He was sentenced to life in prison plus 25 years.

Blalock was 17 years old at the time of the fatal shooting of Jamari Holmes, 15, at Mount Zion Road, per media reports at the time.

Rodalius "Lil' Rod" Ryan, who was age 15 at the time, was also convicted in the deadly shooting.

In a separate case, Ryan pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to violate the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act in the massive YSL gang and racketeering trial in Fulton County. Rapper Jeffery "Young Thug" Williams is also facing charges in the trial.

Ryan was sentenced to 10 years commuted to time served and to be run concurrently with the life sentence he is serving in connection with Holmes' death. Attorney Leah Abbasi, representing Ryan, said Wednesday his murder conviction is on appeal.

Brian Steel, representing Williams in the YSL trial, will also represent Blalock in his appeal.

According to court documents, witnesses testified that Holmes and another person on Feb. 23, 2019, stole a blue Dodge Charger and drove to "chill with" two girls and buy marijuana.

One of the girls testified that when she went to get the marijuana, she told the other girl that someone needed to see her. Both girls left the car, and moments later, shots were fired into the car.

Holmes was in the car with two other people at the time of the shooting, according to the documents.

Atlanta Police said in the past that Holmes was shot in the head, 11Alive reported.

Witness testimony put Blalock at the scene of the shooting, with one of the girls saying she saw Ryan and Blalock armed with guns and shooting at the car, according to court documents.

In his appeal, Blalock claims he had ineffective counsel during his trial. His counsel failed "to understand prevailing laws regarding a witness’ invocation of the constitutional right to remain silent in front of a jury," according to the appeal.

Blalock also maintained previous counsel did not object to prosecution statements made during closing arguments about Blalock's inability to explain his location at the time of Holmes' death.

His past counsel also did not show evidence that may have disproved the prosecution's theory of the case, his appeal stated.

"Blalock further argues that, even if the Court finds the errors individually were not harmful to the case, the errors taken cumulatively warrant a reversal of his convictions and sentence," read the appeal.

The state counter-argues that Blalock's trial counsel was effective. The state claimed Blalock's trial attorneys did not object to a witness on the stand, agreed on a response to a jury question about Blalock evoking his Fifth Amendment rights and did not object to the state's argument against its theory on the case.

A grand jury ultimately found Blalock guilty of participation in criminal street gang activity, malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, first-degree criminal damage to property and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

The Georgia Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Georgia State University College of Law.