Convicted Home Invader Stabbed Man Before Fleeing: DeKalb Prosecutors

BROOKHAVEN, GA — A man who was found guilty of entering a family's Brookhaven home and stabbing the husband in September 2020 has been sentenced to prison, DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston's office said Tuesday.

A jury on Thursday found Jimmy David Mills, 60, guilty of first-degree home invasion and other charges, prosecutors said.

Mills was convicted of entering the North Druid Hills Drive Northeast home, where a couple lived with their baby around 4 p.m., Sept. 17, 2020, prosecutors said. Surveillance video captured Mills going into the home, prosecutors said.

The wife put the baby down for a nap and went into the bathroom with a cellphone she used as a baby monitor, prosecutors said. While she was showering, the home security system alerted her phone that someone opened the back door, prosecutors said.

Hearing someone in the house, prosecutors said the wife called for them to not enter the bathroom. However, Mills then went into the bathroom and asked if she was alone, prosecutors said.

The wife then screamed, which was overheard by her husband who was working in his office with noise-cancelling headphones at the time, prosecutors said.

The husband then went to see what was happening and saw Mills in the bathroom, prosecutors said.

When Mills refused to leave the home, prosecutors said the husband pushed Mills so he would leave the home; but again, Mills did not leave the house.

The husband then began punching him, and once in the kitchen, prosecutors said Mills retrieved a knife from his pocket. The husband went to get a bat, during which prosecutors said Mills followed him and stabbed him in the stomach, face and arms.

Mills then ran from the home and jumped a concrete wall down the street, prosecutors said. Officers found the knife from the attack behind the wall in the backyard of a nearby house, prosecutors said.

Additionally, police saw a blood trail leading from the house's back entrance and discovered blood had been smeared on the door "as if Mills tried to get inside," prosecutors said.

Down the street, Mills rang the doorbell at another home and asked the occupants if he could use the bathroom, prosecutors said. The occupants declined and closed the door after seeing blood on Mills' chest, prosecutors said.

While officers searched for Mills, a driver stopped and told them she saw a man walking down the street without his shirt on and with something in his hand, prosecutors said. The woman said she also saw the man climb the wall, prosecutors said.

Police went to the area described to them and found Mills holding his bloody shirt, prosecutors said. He was then arrested, prosecutors said.

A jury found Mills guilty of first-degree home invasion, aggravated assault, possession of a knife during the commission of certain felonies and criminal trespass, prosecutors said.

Immediately after the verdict, prosecutors said DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Courtney L. Johnson sentenced Mills to life in prison plus 26 years to serve consecutively.

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