Colbert Murder Suspect Pleads Not Guilty

The man charged in the death of Tomas Colbert earlier this year pleads not guilty.

Court officials indicated this week that Marqueela Lawain Hill waived formal arraignment and entered the not guilty plea in recent days in Stephens County Superior Court.

The next possible court date for Hill would be August 25 regarding criminal motions.

Hill’s case will be heard by Mountain Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge Chan Caudell.

Hill was indicted by a Stephens County grand jury in late June on multiple counts in connection to Colbert’s death.

The Douglassville resident is indicted on one count of malice murder for allegedly shooting the 21-year-old Colbert at a Falls Road apartment in the early morning hours of February 7.

Colbert died later at Greenville Memorial Hospital as a result of several gunshot wounds to his body.

Grand jurors also indicted Hill on one count of Aggravated Assault for firing the .223 caliber rifle into the apartment Colbert was in and one count of Possession of a Firearm of a Convicted Felon.

Because Hill was indicted on those two charges, he was also indicted on two counts of felony murder in connection to Colbert’s death.

Agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office arrested Hill in April in Douglasville.