Five Columbus teens breaking into cars led to a man’s death. Here’s their punishment

The last of five suspects has pleaded in the fatal shooting of a Columbus man who caught a 14-year-old breaking into his car outside the Foxy Lady Lounge on Victory Drive.

Santonio Lamar Williams, 19, pleaded guilty to participating in criminal street gang activity by committing car break-ins. Superior Court Judge John Martin sentenced him to 20 years with 12 to serve in prison and the rest on probation.

Williams is the last to plead guilty in the June 5, 2020 death of Samuel Devoid London in the parking lot of the lounge at 3023 Victory Drive, where he and four others went to steal from cars around 2 a.m.

Authorities said the group had gang associations, though Williams was the only one accused of violating Georgia’s gang act.

London was leaving the nightclub when he caught then 14-year-old Raymond Leon Richmond III rummaging through his unlocked 2019 Jeep Compass, prosecutors said. Richmond shot London during the ensuing struggle, then dropped the gun as all five suspects fled.

Grievously wounded, London picked up Richmond’s gun, staggered back to the club for help. The 40-year-old was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The car burglars left so much evidence behind that detectives soon captured all five, and each later negotiated a plea deal.

These are the other defendants and their sentences:

• Richmond, now 17, pleaded guilty May 31 to to voluntary manslaughter, entering an auto and using a gun to commit a crime. Judge Martin sentenced him to 30 years in prison with 22 to serve and the rest on probation.

• Cecil Brian Berguin III, 20, pleaded June 15 to illegally entering an auto and was sentenced to five years in prison with three to serve and the rest on probation.

• Vic’trez Jaequan Thomas, 20, pleaded June 15 to illegally entering an auto and was sentenced to five years in prison with three to serve and the rest on probation.

• Jyquarious D. Varner, 17, pleaded June 15 to illegally entering an auto, and also was sentenced to five years in prison with three to serve and the rest on probation.

Defense attorneys in June said Berguin, Thomas and Varner had been jailed about 35 months, awaiting trial, and soon would be eligible for parole, when credited with the time held in confinement.

Gun from robbery

Thomas already has been released, and was in court Friday on another case involving Williams.

Thomas, Williams and a third suspect who’s not linked to London’s homicide were accused of robbing a Columbus woman in her home on June 3, 2020, two days before London’s death.

Prosecutors said the trio stopped in the victim’s driveway as Williams went inside and Thomas waited on the front porch. The third man remained in the car.

Williams robbed the woman of $600 cash and two Taurus-brand handguns together worth $500, police said, and later gave one of the stolen guns to Richmond. That was the same gun used to shoot London, detectives said.

Represented by attorney Mike Garner, Williams also pleaded guilty Friday in that case, his charges reduced from armed robbery to robbery. He was sentenced to 10 years with seven to serve in prison, but he’s to serve that time simultaneously with his sentence in London’s homicide, so it adds no additional penalty.

Thomas declined a plea deal of 10 years with five to serve in the robbery case, and opted to go to trial instead, said his attorney, Shevon Thomas II.

The evidence

The plea deals in London’s death were negotiated by prosecutor Christopher George of the Prosecuting Attorneys Council of Georgia, who was assigned the case because local District Attorney Stacey Jackson had a conflict.

All the suspects were teenagers in 2020 when they drove around Columbus looking for cars to break into: Like Richmond, Varner was only 14. Williams was 15; and both Berguin and Thomas were 17.

They got together sometime before midnight, and traveled to the Foxy Lady in a Toyota Camry and a Nissan Altima. Richmond drove the Altima, though he was too young to have a license.

When they got to the lounge, Richmond got out with a gun and started checking for unlocked car doors, using a T-shirt wrapped around his hand to avoid leaving fingerprints, George said. He was in the driver’s seat of London’s Jeep when London came out and dragged Richmond from the car.

Richmond shot London as he fell atop the victim, George said.

The suspects fled in a panic, with Richmond dropping his T-shirt along with the gun. Three got into the Toyota and fled, taking the keys to the Nissan and leaving two to flee on foot, authorities said.

The shooting was recorded on surveillance video. With other evidence such as the abandoned car, Richmond’s DNA on the T-shirt, the gun he left behind, fingerprints found at the scene and the suspects’ own statements, Columbus police found enough evidence to charge all of them with murder.

Police alleged Williams was the ringleader of the group; Richmond was London’s killer; and the rest acted as his accomplices, or “parties to the crime,” so all initially were charged with murder, before their plea deals.