Sunday, March 18, 2001
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Sunday, March 18, 2001 |
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Murder charges dropped for Jamaican man, who admits to drug possession By JOHN MUNFORD
Prosecutors have agreed to drop murder charges against a Jamaican man in exchange for his testimony in the drug-deal-gone-bad murder trail of Glen Simon Hamilton, which is expected to begin Monday. Paul Hylton, whom law enforcement officials tracked down in Jamaica, was sentenced to 10 years in jail Friday morning after pleading guilty to felony possession of marijuana. District Attorney Bill McBroom said the charges are related to the murder Hamilton is accused of, the shooting death and burning of Adolf Stubbs, who died in March 1999 in north Fayette County. Another potential witness in that case, Clyde Lancelot Williams, of Jamaica, also pled guilty to the same charges and received the same sentence as Hylton while the two stood side-by-side before Superior Court Judge Christopher Edwards. He also will not face murder charges in exchange for his cooperation, McBroom confirmed. Simon is accused of murder and several related charges for the death of Stubbs, whose decomposed body was discovered after firefighters extinguished the flames in the Ford Explorer that fateful evening. Attorneys for both defendants indicated that they advised their clients that since they were illegal immigrants when the crimes occurred, they could be deported. Investigators believe Stubbs, a Jamaican native, was in the Atlanta area for a drug deal. He was last seen with one of the defendants transporting about 150 pounds of marijuana in his vehicle, according to law enforcement records. Investigators from the Fayette County Sheriff's Department had tracked Hylton down in Jamaica and went through the lengthy process of extraditing him back to the United States. Hylton eventually waived the extradition, McBroom told Edwards. McBroom said the two planned to take the marijuana from a drug dealer without paying for it. "They are admitting that overt act," McBroom said. McBroom could not be reached for comment before press time for this article. Jamaican authorities wouldn't allow Hylton to be extradited without assurances that he wouldn't face the death penalty. That led McBroom to drop the death penalty against Hamilton and Hodge earlier this year.
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