Judge denies separate trials in NE Ga. double killing

ELBERTON - A Superior Court judge has denied separate trials for two men accused of murdering an Athens man and his female companion three years ago in Lexington County, two days after the man got $50,000 for selling some property.

The motion was among issues Judge Thomas L. Hodges considered Friday at a hearing in Elberton to clear the way for an Aug. 24 trial for 31-year-old Therron Johnson of Athens and his 23-year-old nephew, Randy Lamar Johnson Jr. of Lexington.

Oglethorpe County officials will call 140 potential jurors to select a panel to hear the case of the Johnsons. The two are accused of robbing and killing 53-year-old Ronnie Cooper and 39-year-old Vickie Wolford, whose bodies were found in a mobile home in July 2006.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2009/6/206923