Suspects in Tomas Colbert Murder Plead Guilty to Lesser Charges, Get 15 Years Each

The two suspects, accused in the 2016 shooting death of 21-year old Tomas Colbert, will spend the next 15 years in prison, but not for murder.

Marqkeela Lewain Hill and William McElveen pled guilty Monday in Stephens County Superior Court to lesser charges of Conspiracy to Commit Murder and Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon.

Under a plea agreement hammered out late last week, the charges of Malice Murder and Felony Murder were set aside.

In Stephens County Superior Court Monday morning, Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney George Christian told Superior Court Judge Russell Smith the evidence in relation to the murder charges was circumstantial and might not hold up in court if the case went to trial.

Christian said they lacked key hard evidence such as the gun that was used to fire into the apartment where Colbert was sleeping the night he was shot.

He also said some of the witnesses interviewed by his office and the GBI had changed their stories several times and he believed they might change their testimony again on the stand. Christian told the Court he believed there were other suspects involved in the shooting that night and that the crime was gang-related.

The Court also heard from members of Colbert’s family who told the Judge they were not happy with the plea deal, but understood it was the best way to hold Hill and McElveen responsible for the death of their loved one.

Colbert’s mother, Melissa Colbert, told the court since her son’s death her family lives in fear.

“My life is destroyed,” she said through tears. “I can’t even grieve because I have to take care of my other sons and make sure they’re safe.”

She said her youngest son, now 17, had a breakdown after his brother’s death and is on medication for anxiety and stress.

Ms. Colbert said for the past two and half years she has been sleeping on the floor in the livingroom of her home at night to guard her house and to make sure her four other sons who live with her are safe.

“No mother should have to bury her son,” she said. “They should pay. Our son deserves justice.”

Judge Smith could have rejected the plea agreement and ordered a murder trial, but
in making what he called a very difficult decision, Smith noted the problems the State faced if the case had gone to trial.

“Under the circumstances as announced by the State, I do intend to give affect to the plea agreement, notwithstanding the concerns that I have, as I am relying on the State. And I understand the problems of proof and the fact that this is a terrible, terrible tragedy,” Smith said.

According to the Grand Jury indictment, Hill allegedly shot Colbert at a Falls Road apartment in the early morning hours of February 7, 2016 after McElveen got into a fight with Colbert and his uncle at a party.

The DA said Tomas Colbert was sleeping in a recliner near the front window of his uncle’s apartment when 10 rounds were fired into the apartment from a rifle.

Colbert died later at Greenville Memorial Hospital as a result of multiple gunshot wounds.

In January 2017, a Stephens County Grand Jury indicted Hill and McElveen on charges of Malice Murder, Felony Murder, Aggravated Assault, and Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon, along with Conspiracy to Commit Murder and Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Assault.

Christian said the only hard evidence they had were the cell phone records the night of the shooting between McElveen and Hill that proved conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault.

He said those records show that after being kicked out of the party, McElveen went to St. Mary’s Sacred Heart Hospital in Lavonia to be treated for a head wound. While there, he called Hill, who was living in Douglasville.

The two continued to communicate as Hill drove to Toccoa in the early morning hours of February 7 and again when Hill arrived in Toccoa.

Phone records, he said, also show a text message from Hill to McElveen shortly after the shooting stating, “Game over.”

Judge Smith sentenced Hill and McElveen to 10 years each in state prison on Conspiracy to Commit Murder charge and five years each on the charge of Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Assault. The sentences will run consecutively.

Both Hill and McElveen both turned to Colbert’s family and offered their condolences on the death of Tomas Colbert but did not admit to killing him.

Colbert’s family did not want to comment after the sentences were handed down.