Wilson convicted in 2013 Rockmart murder
Prosecutors in Polk County got another win in court after a jury handed down a conviction plea for a 2013 murder.
Jurors came back with a guilty plea on Oct. 4 against 39-year-old Demon Eugene Wilson of Rockmart, who was charged and is now awaiting sentencing for the shooting death of Desmond Kinnemore in 2013.
Wilson will now face either life with or without parole on charges of murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, along with aggravated assault. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 23.
He’d already served a federal prison term for the charges stemming from a previous firearm conviction, according to Assistant District Attorney Ryan Remsen, who handled the case for the state.
According to Remsen, he and District Attorney’s Office investigator Rick Poor pulled together several pieces of a puzzle to land a conviction in the case.
He said they were able to prove that Wilson pulled up to the intersection of Morgan Valley Road and Second Street in Rockmart on Jan. 8, 2013 and had a brief encounter with Kinnemore, who was 19 at the time of his death.
A pair of witnesses who saw Wilson’s “red car” pull up on the street then watched as Kinnemore began to flee from the vehicle, and fell into the ditch before the car sped away, all while gunfire from what police suspected was a .223 caliber assault rifle was going off.
Witnesses provided a description of the car to police, who later found it around the corner according to Remsen.
Though the bullet that killed Kinnemore was never found, police said they believed it was an AR-15 style weapon that killed him based on shell casings found at the scene matching up to those found within Wilson’s home and a casing found within his vehicle.
“They all matched and had been cycled through the same firearm,” Remsen said.
He added that proof was provided that Wilson previously bought an AR-15 a few months prior from a relative, and that was definitely the same person driving the car based on video evidence from Rakestraw Automotive of Wilson picking up the car earlier that January morning.
“This was a case that tied a lot of circumstantial evidence and they were able to tie together and present a cohesive picture to the jury as to what happened,” Browning said of the role of both his prosecution team and law enforcement in the case.
Wilson, from 1998 to 2013 was deeply involved in drug distribution in Rockmart according to previous arrest records, and prosecutors said he was previously on trial for murder in the early 2000s but was acquitted by a jury at the time.
“He was well known among the Polk County law enforcement community, and in Rockmart specifically,” Browning said.
Chief Keith Sorrells of the Rockmart Police Department said that as much credit is deserved of his office as it is other agencies, including those who helped on the case from the Polk County Police and Sheriff’s Office, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms others.
He said he didn’t know of Wilson’s full background, but that it was good to have him off the streets of Rockmart.