HOMER - Three people have been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of beating a Banks County man to death during a robbery in September 2004.
A Banks County jury convicted two Athens men -- Roderick Cooper and Torrell McGarrett Young -- and Carla Simmons of Commerce last week of murder in the death of a retired mill worker, 64-year-old Paul Rucker. He lived alone in a home off Georgia 326.
A family member found Rucker's body September 29, 2004 -- a day after authorities say he was killed.
A fourth person -- Donald Andrew Murphy, Jr., of Arcade -- had pleaded guilty earlier and testified against the three.
Prosecutors say Cooper, Simmons, McGarrett and Murphy went to Rucker's house and that Simmons agreed to dance for Rucker and have sex with him in order to distract him from the robbery.
Prosecutors says Murphy beat Rucker with a liquor bottle and strangled him.
Young's attorney -- Jeffrey Sliz -- says an appeal is likely in the case. The state had been seeking the death penalty.
Wednesday
May 1st, 2024
2:39PM
