NEWNAN, Ga. — An admitted gang member is going to spend the next 20 years in prison as part of a negotiated plea deal in Coweta County Superior Court, for a gang-motivated shooting on June 20, 2018, according to Coweta District Attorney Herb Cranford.
On Tuesday, July 30, Ammad Minuel Houston pleaded guilty to two counts of violating Georgia's street gang terrorism prevention act, aggravated assault, aggravated battery and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
Cranford said that Houston was sentenced to 40 years, with 20 years of that to be served in prison. The remaining 20 years would be on probation. The non-negotiated plea came a week ahead of Houston's previously scheduled August 5 trial date.
According to Cranford, Houston, who was an admitted member of the MOB PIRU criminal street gang, pulled a gun on his victim and shot the unarmed victim in the stomach following a verbal altercation in the front yard of an apartment complex.
The unnamed victim, Cranford said, was shot in the presence of women and children. The victim had to undergo surgery and suffered serious complications with his intestines.
Cranford said that before he pulled the trigger, Houston called the victim a "crab," which is a derogatory term used by rival street gang members to refer to associates of the Crip criminal street gang.
In his Mirandized interview with law enforcement, Cranford said, Houston admitted to his membership in the MOB PIRU criminal street gang and that he believed the victim was an associate of the Crip criminal street gang. Houston also told law enforcement that he had this in mind when he shot his victim.
The D.A.'s office said they were prepared to call as a witness a qualified expert in gang culture to testify that gang members commit violence against rival gang members in order to establish the dominance of their gang within an area and in order to increase their own rank within their own gang.
Cranford said he believes gang-motivated violence and crime continues to be a problem within the Coweta Judicial Circuit as well as across the entire state of Georgia. The Coweta Judicial Circuit includes Carroll, Coweta, Heard, Meriwether and Troup counties.
He went on to say that while he believes the long-term solution to the state's gang crisis is the education of at-risk youth and early intervention with that same youth, his office will seek to remove from the community those gang members who prey on their communities by committing violent acts, distributing drugs and guns and recruiting vulnerable youth into criminal street gangs.
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