Byron man pleads guilty to Econo Lodge slaying at Watson Boulevard motel
A Byron man pleaded guilty Wednesday to the fatal shooting of another man in 2013 during a drug-related incident at the Econo Lodge on Watson Boulevard.
Stephen Randall Johnson, of Byron, was sentenced by Judge Tripp Self to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Johnson won't be eligible for parole until he has served 30 years of his sentence, said Elizabeth Bobbitt, an assistant district attorney for the Macon Judicial Circuit, which includes Peach County.
Matthew Allen Garner, 23, of Warner Robins, was shot dead at the motel, which is in the Warner Robins city limits but has a Byron address.
Kenneth Robert Sharpe, 32, of Jackson, Mississippi, and Emily Nicole Hooker, of Jefferson, fled the scene in a 2010 Dodge Charger. Sharpe, who had been shot in the stomach, died later that morning in an Anniston, Alabama, hospital.
Johnson was later implicated in the crime and was expected to go on trial next week in Peach County Superior Court on a murder charge related to Garner's death along with other charges stemming from the Oct. 13, 2013, shootings.
According to prosecutors, Johnson and Garner were friends and had previously sold methamphetamine to Sharpe. But Sharpe had a beef with Johnson and Garner because he thought he had been cheated.
When the men met at the motel to make the drug exchange, Sharpe showed up with less than half of the $6,500 agreed-upon purchase price for the next batch of methamphetamine.
"Obviously something went wrong," Bobbitt said.
Johnson told authorities that when it was time to exchange the money. Sharpe pulled out a gun. Garner drew his weapon and shot Sharpe, Bobbitt said. Then Sharpe shot back twice, striking Garner both times. Garner was pronounced dead on the scene.
Although Johnson was not the accused shooter, the state's felony murder law allows for the charge of murder when someone dies in the commission of another felony crime, which in this case was trafficking methamphetamine, Bobbitt said.
Sharpe and Hooker fled the scene with more than 200 grams of methamphetamine with Hooker driving. An arrest warrant initially was issued for Hooker in connection with the shooting, but it was not pursued because officials determined she was not part of the Peach County incident other than driving Sharpe after he had been shot, Bobbitt said.
However, Alabama authorities prosecuted Hooker in connection with the drugs found inside the car, and she is currently serving a three-year prison sentence for trafficking methamphetamine, according to the Alabama Department of Corrections website.
Efforts to reach Johnson's Macon attorney, Alan Wheeler, by telephone late Wednesday afternoon were unsuccessful.
To contact writer Becky Purser, call 256-9559, or find her on Twitter @becpurser.
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This story was originally published April 6, 2016 at 8:31 PM with the headline "Byron man pleads guilty to Econo Lodge slaying at Watson Boulevard motel ."