Hall County DA: 'Justice has been done...for Blane Dixon'

Guilty verdicts were handed down at noon Thursday for the three young men accused in the July 7, 2019 murder of Hall County Sheriff's Deputy Blane Dixon.

Lee Darragh, the District Attorney for the Northeastern Judicial Circuit, was in the courtroom when the verdicts were read. Afterward, he expressed gratitude to the eight women and four men on the Hall County Superior Court jury that rendered the verdicts against Hector Garcia-Solis, Edgar Velazquez and London Clements. 

"We are very grateful for the jury's verdict finding each of these defendants guilty of every single charge that they were prosecuted for," Darragh said. "Justice has been done through their verdict for Blane Dixon."

As the court clerk published the verdicts, Dixon's family and his fellow law enforcement officers listened quietly. Three young women who came to the courtroom in support of the defendants shed tears, choking back sobs as each guilty verdict was read aloud. The jurors were somber, one of the women crying. Following the publication of the verdicts and the departure of the jury from the courtroom, prosecuting attorneys shared hugs with Hall County law enforcement officers and with Dixon's friends and family. 

The jury took about four hours to render the verdicts. The panel received the case around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday and ceased deliberations around 5 p.m. The jurors returned to their deliberations at 9 a.m. Thursday. They came to the courtroom briefly to review body cam footage from both Dixon and Sgt. Charles Hewell, Dixon's supervising officer, who was with him the night of the shooting. About 30 minutes after reviewing the footage, they notified Judge Jason Deal they had reached their decision. The verdicts were published at 12:00 p.m. Thursday.

Sentencing for the three men has been tentatively scheduled for Thursday, July 8 at 9 a.m. The date is exactly two years to the day that Dixon died from the gunshot wound he received in his July 7, 2019 encounter with Garcia-Solis. 

Darragh said the maximum sentence available for each man is life in prison without the possibility of parole for the guilty verdicts on murder charges.

"Unfortunately, in this case, the death penalty was never an option because they were all 17 at the time of the event," Darragh said. 

Darragh said his prosecutors look forward to presenting evidence and arguments for what they believe is an appropriate sentence for each defendant.

"We're confident that Judge Deal will sentence appropriately in the case," Darragh said.

Darragh also praised the team of attorneys who prosecuted the case.

"I need to say there is no prosecutor in this state that has a finer team of lawyers than Chief Assistant District Attorney Wanda Vance and Senior Assistant DAs Kelly Robertson and Harold Buckler," Darragh said. "Our community owes a great debt to them... ."

Editor's note: Darragh and Vance are scheduled to appear Thursday, July 1 just after 5 p.m. on WDUN's Newsroom with Mitch Clarke. The interview will be available on 550 AM and 102.9 FM.