Assistant DA Goldin: Summerville man was strangled

John Henry Weatherington Jr. is on trial for murder in the death of Nicholas Shropshire, found on the side of Floyd Springs Road in early 2015.

The trial of John Henry Weatherington Jr., charged with murdering a Summerville man in northern Floyd County, is slated to continue today.

But his attorney is contending the main witness the state will bring against Weatherington is the one responsible for the man’s death.

“This isn’t a drug deal gone bad, it’s a robbery gone good,” Arnold Ragas told the jury in Superior Court Judge Jack Niedrach’s courtroom Monday.

Weatherington, 27, of Dalton is accused of killing 42-year-old Nicholas Shropshire on April 18, 2015, and robbing him of $1,500. A passerby saw Shropshire’s body dumped on the side of Floyd Springs Road and called 911.

Assistant District Attorney Hal Goldin said Shropshire arranged to buy methamphetamine from Weatherington through Eric Jordan Hunter, 25, of 2014 Wesley Court in Rome. Now the prosecution’s main witness, Hunter admitted his involvement as the driver of the car and will be sentenced on robbery charges later, Goldin said.

“But he will tell you what he knows about how that particular crime occurred, and how Mr. Shropshire ended up dead on the side of the highway,” Goldin said in his opening statement.

Testimony is expected to continue at least through Wednesday.

Shropshire was in cardiac arrest when he was found and died later that day at Redmond Regional Medical Center. His body was taken for autopsy at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab.

Goldin said there were no visible signs of trauma but the autopsy revealed his windpipe had been crushed. The primary cause of death was strangulation, in combination with a 90-percent heart blockage.