TROUP COUNTY, Ga. — A Troup County man will spend 35 years in prison, the district attorney announced, after he plotted to put a hit out on a sheriff's office drug investigator who had testified against him.
DA John H. Cranford Jr.'s office said in a release that Jonathan Lawrence, now 31, had been convicted by a jury of conspiracy to commit malice murder and two other charges. He was also acquitted of criminal attempt to commit malice murder and one other charge.
According to the district attorney, things began when Lawrence was arrested for possession of methamphetamine in April 2020.
"During the pandemic when jail crowding was a serious problem, Lawrence was granted bond with numerous conditions on the April 2020 Drug Trafficking arrest, and he did not take long to violate those conditions of release," a release said. "When the State initiated bond revocation proceedings, Lawrence sent menacing and threatening messages to two people he believed were helping the State with prove he was violating bond."
At a July hearing where his bond was revoked, a Troup County Sheriff's Office drug investigator testified to the bond violations.
"Approximately a month after Lawrence’s bond was revoked, an inmate came forward and informed TCSO investigators that Lawrence had a 'hit' on the drug investigator and was soliciting assistance with getting the drug investigator killed," the DA's Office said.
Lawrence held a particular animosity against the investigator, the DA said, because they lived in the same neighborhood.
His knowledge of the neighborhood came into play in the plot to have the investigator killed. Another inmate wearing a recording device caught Lawrence "describing the layout of the investigator’s neighborhood, and logistics and tactics that could be employed to best carry out the hit at the drug investigator’s house, including drawing a map of the neighborhood."
The sheriff's office then had an undercover deputy call Lawrence, posing as a hitman. On that call, Lawrence provided information for how the "hitman" could contact an associate of his and get paid to carry out the hit.
The trial against Lawrence lasted a week, the DA's Office said, and concluded with the guilty verdict on August 25.
"I am thankful that this egregious murderous plot was stopped in its infancy," DA Cranford said. "This Troup County Sheriff’s Office investigator puts his life on the line every day he is on duty, just like every law enforcement officer in this state. The Coweta Circuit’s District Attorney’s Office will seek substantial prison sentences, as was handed down in this case, for those who seek to harm members of our law enforcement community."
