An East Point man convicted last week in the 2019 murder of Gainesville businessman Jack Hough is to be sentenced Monday, May 3.
DeMarvin Bennett has been behind bars at the Hall County Jail since his arrest on Feb. 10, 2019. His trial was delayed because after the COVID-19 pandemic led to the suspension of jury trials across the state, but a Hall County Superior Court jury heard the case this past week and handed down the guilty verdict in the murder on Friday afternoon.
District Attorney Lee Darragh with the Northeastern Judicial Circuit of Georgia praised the decision.
"The verdict reflects clearly that Jack Hough was an innocent victim of an attempt to rob him, and that in the light of the entirety of the verdict Jack Hough was shot with a weapon that the defendant himself brought to the scene," Darragh said in an email statement. "We are very appreciative of the jury's verdict and what it says about Hall County citizens being willing to protect the public by holding defendants accountable."
Hough was shot and killed the night of Feb. 7, 2019 as he waited for his wife in his vehicle outside the CVS Pharmacy on Park Hill Drive in Gainesville. His wife had gone into the store to pick up a prescription.
Sentencing for Bennett is scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday.
