Murphy to preside over Rockmart quadruple murder case
♦ A new status hearing is scheduled for later this month in the trial of Daylon Gamble.
A pretrial hearing for a man facing the death penalty in the shooting deaths of four people in Rockmart in 2019 is on the docket for later this month with Polk County Superior Court Chief Judge Mark Murphy set to preside.
Daylon Delon Gamble is charged with murder in the January, 2019 deaths of Helen Rose Mitchell, Jaequnn Davis, Arkeyla Perry and Dadrian Cummings. The shootings took place on the same night at two different nearby locations in Rockmart. Another victim was shot but survived.
After a handful of delays, a status hearing is set for Jan. 27 in Polk County Superior Court in Cedartown according to Tallapoosa Circuit District Attorney Jack Browning. This will be the first hearing in the case overseen by Murphy.
“This case has been fraught with everything from being delayed by COVID, to multiple changes in the defense team, and oftentimes those two things went hand in hand with one another. It was just the circumstances of the times. Now that restrictions are lifted and it is clear which judge will be presiding, everything can hopefully move forward,” Browning said.
The case was initially assigned to former Tallapoosa Superior Court Judge Meng Lim. He was defeated by Cedartown attorney Andrew
Roper in the May 2022 election and resigned in July. Roper took office in August and was set to preside over Lim’s cases, including Gamble’s trial.
A transfer order filed with the Polk County Superior Court Clerk’s Office in September outlines the circumstances that led to Roper getting the case and how Murphy is better equipped to oversee the trial after participating in the Council of Superior Court Judges’ yearly death penalty training course multiple times.
Roper, as of September, had not yet had the opportunity to take that course.
Gamble was arrested in Indianapolis, Indiana, days after reportedly fleeing from Rockmart after the shootings. He was captured and brought back to Polk County.
Browning has announced his intention to seek the death penalty in the case.
During a short status conference in July 2021, Jerilyn Bell with the Georgia Capital Defender’s office told the court that her office was working to get qualified attorneys assigned to the case.
During an April 2019 pretrial hearing, GBI Special Agent Amanda Carter testified that Gamble was hanging out with several of the victims until 7:44 p.m. on the night of the shootings. She also testified that all five of the shooting victims, including the sole survivor, Peerless Brown, were shot in the head.
Brown identified Gamble, who used to babysit him, as the shooter.
Witnesses in the case said Gamble was believed to be under the influence of alcohol and drugs at the time of the crime, Carter told the court.