DECATUR - A DeKalb County Superior Court jury has found Carl Hewitt guilty of murder in a shootout at the home of a former sheriff's deputy. <br>
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The jury returned the guilty verdict shortly before noon Wednesday. Hewitt was found guilty on four counts, including murder and kidnapping. <br>
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Hewitt was convicted of killing Jeffrey George in a shootout March 18 outside the home of former Deputy Patrick Cuffy. Cuffy is the key witness in the December 2000 slaying of DeKalb County Sheriff-elect Derwin Brown. <br>
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Prosecutors say the shootout was the climax of a dispute over drugs stolen from Cuffy. <br>
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Cuffy was charged with murder in George's death, but he was allowed to plead guilty to lesser charges in exchange for his testimony in the Brown case. Cuffy has told police that he was one of four men who went to Brown's house the night he was gunned down in his driveway. He said they were acting on instructions from former Sheriff Sidney Dorsey, who had lost a Democratic primary runoff to Brown in August 2000. <br>
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Dorsey, ex-deputy Melvin Walker and David Ramsey, another acquaintance of Cuffy's, are charged with murder in the death of Brown. Brown campaigned as a reform candidate aiming to clean up corruption in the Sheriff's Department.
