Exclusive: State's top gang prosecutor praises jury verdict in Columbus Wilson Apartments double murder

admin December 01, 2023

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) -- For more than a year, Senior Assistant Attorney General Cara Convery has worked for justice in a Columbus double-murder case that left two verified gang members dead and two more seriously injured. 

Earlier this month, she got that justice when brothers Terrance and Homer Upshaw and Roderick Glanton -- also verified gang members -- were convicted in the 2021 shooting deaths of Saiveon Pugh, 18, and Jessie Ransom, 17. 

On Wednesday, Superior Court Judge Gil McBride sentenced all three men to life in prison. Terrance Upshaw and Glanton will be eligible for parole after serving 30 years. Homer Upshaw, because of his prior criminal history, will serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole in the Georgia prison system. 

Convery spoke publicly for the first time Thursday in an exclusive interview with WRBL. 

“I think the verdict really spoke to, of course, the victims' families for the two individuals that succumbed to their injuries in that car," she said. "But it was also profound to the two young men who survived." 

She said the impact goes beyond the four Zohannon criminal street gang members who were in the Dodge Dart that had more than 60 rounds pumped into it along a road on the edge of Wilson Apartments, a large Columbus public housing complex off Veterans Parkway near River Road. 

"Most importantly, honestly, for me, in a case like this is the impact that it has on the people who have to return to Wilson and the people who live in this complex we talk so much about in the surrounding communities," Convery said. "So we're very pleased with the outcome, which was the result of really just 12 good people doing the work and honestly seeking the truth.” 

She said this was a mature jury that took its job seriously. 

"I think I had 12 jurors with a lot of life experience, either because of jobs, families, people who had seen things, who had lived a life, and that's always what I'm looking for," she said. "I don't want a bunch of people who don't know this community or who have never done anything, lived in a bubble. I want people that have really experienced life, have had to navigate things, make tough decisions. But I had 12 jurors who were experienced in all different facets of life. And I believe ultimately that was an important part of our success." 

Convery credits the new Georgia gang law that allows prosecutors to go after those who participate in illegal street gang activity with more legal latitude and tougher penalties. 

“We have one of the most effective gang combatting tools there is in the in the country," she said. "Really with our gang statutes. It's a strong statute. It allows us to really paint a very large, expansive picture of what it means to be associated with the gang and what happens with that association." 

Convery prosecuted gangs in Fulton County before taking the state's top gang prosecution job in Attorney General Chris Carr's office. 

"So, I'm no stranger to the power of that tool, and it's something I tell my team for certain, and I try to talk about every opportunity of that," she said. "That comes with a lot of responsibility. In this case, I don't I don't believe that that is what wins the day. I think it's the video recording of this crime. I think it's the truth about what happens. ”  

The entire crime -- including the lead-up to the shooting and the aftermath -- was caught on cameras mounted on Wilson Apartment buildings across the street. 

The jury was able to see the video multiple times during the nearly three-week trial. Less than 30 minutes before the verdict was reached on 60 counts, the jury foreman asked for the panel to rewatch specific parts of the video. 

Convery said that was a good sign for the prosecution. 

"There was a lot of circumstances about this case -- important circumstances," she said. "... I mean, I had people setting up strong shooting positions. I believe having the female and the child leave the scene was a result of the defendants knowing exactly what was about to happen. We set up that section of video over the break and showed it to them (the jury) after they took a lunch break. And during that time I reviewed the sections of video they asked for, and I thought, you know, they asked for some really compelling sections." 

And early next year another Wilson Apartments gang-murder case will be tried by the Attorney General’s gang prosecution unit – the same group that got the most recent conviction.  

Convery’s prosecution unit will try a second Wilson Apartments murder case early next year. Five co-defendants are facing murder and gang charges for a shooting inside Wilson.  

“Sadly, there are shared elements between both of those cases that they were really just separated by a couple of weeks that summer, which was a particularly violent time in the city," she said. "But they are at the same time, completely different facts, completely different nature of the charges themselves." 

Convery said it points to the crime issues the city faced in the summer of 2021. 

"That means just statistically, you know, how much violence is going on there," she said. "We have two cases from the same summer, same street, and different life now gone. So it's sad that we are getting ready to tell a very similar story. And we're just one of the teams in there doing these cases.”  

Convery will not be part of the prosecution team that tries the February case in front of Superior Court Judge Ron Mullins. But McKenzie Gray, who sat second chair in the most recent trial, will be part of the prosecution team. 

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