Murder Trials Pushed to Later Date

MJ Kneiser

No trial dates set yet for the suspects in two prominent Stephens County murder cases.
In Stephens County Superior Court yesterday, attorneys for Marqkeela Lawain Hill and William Demetrius McElveen, asked for a continuance on both those murder cases, according to Mountain Judicial Circuit Assistant District Attorney Rick Bridgeman.
Hill and McElveen were charged in the February 2016 murder of 21-year-old Tomas Colbert of Toccoa.
Both were indicted in January on charges of Malice Murder, Felony Murder, Aggravated Assault, and Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon, along with the new charges, Conspiracy to Commit Murder and Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Assault.
Hill allegedly shot Colbert at a Falls Road apartment in the early morning hours of Feb. 7, 2016.
Colbert died later at Greenville Memorial Hospital as a result of several gunshot wounds.
According to the indictment, McElveen contacted Hill by telephone.
Hill then traveled from Douglas County to Stephens County and the two met at a location in Toccoa prior to the shooting.
Shortly after the shooting, Hill sent a text message to McElveen that read, “game over.”
Also Tuesday, Bridgeman said the attorney for Gary Lamar Patrick’ asked for a continuance in his murder case.
In January, a Stephens County grand jury indicted Patrick on charges of Malice Murder, Felony Murder, Aggravated Assault and Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony.
Patrick is accused of shooting and killing Robert Gary Hiott of Toccoa during an argument at a Patrick Lane residence on Feb. 21, 2016.