Man convicted in killing outside a downtown Macon nightclub is headed to prison

A Macon man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole Friday for the 2016 fatal shooting of a man outside a downtown nightclub.

Quentin McCorey Jackson, 34, was sentenced after a Bibb County jury found him guilty of one count of malice murder and two counts each felony murder and violation of the Georgia Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act. He was also found guilty of one count each of aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

The sentence also included another 45 years to run consecutive with the life sentence, according to a news release from the District Attorney’s Office for the Macon Judicial Circuit.

Jackson was convicted of killing 36-year-old Darian Vashawn Brewster outside Club Dreams on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard during the early morning hours of Aug. 20, 2016. Benjamin Jerome Murphy Jr., 28, who was also indicted in Brewster’s killing, is pending trial.

Here’s what happened, according to the news release:

Brewster was sitting in the driver’s seat of his car when he was asked by a man for a cigarette lighter and was shot when he refused.

Brewster was able to drive off.

Sandra Thomas, who was in the front seat, later took over driving and took Brewster to a local hospital where he died. She and two other women who were with Brewster in the car testified at the trial.

One said she was threatened by Jackson to stay quiet after the killing.

According to another person’s testimony, Jackson and Murphy had been looking to rob someone, and Brewster was known to dress well and carry cash.

This witness said Jackson threatened him at gunpoint to keep quiet, and he was later beaten by Jackson and other inmates in the Bibb County jail when all were held there.

A fourth woman told jurors Jackson had busted her lip with a metal object and threatened her not to talk as well.

Additionally, Jackson and others threatened Murphy not to testify, according to recordings of Jackson talking on a contraband cellphone at the jail and introduced as evidence at trial.

A Bibb County sheriff’s gang investigator testified Brewster was a member of the Crips street gang, a rival to the Gangster Disciples gang to which Jackson was affiliated.

“Anyone who doubts our resolve to hold gang members accountable for their crimes should ask Mr. Jackson about that,” District Attorney David Cooke said in the release. “We will not tolerate their senseless killings or their attempts to intimidate witnesses after their arrest. Justice is coming for all of them.”

This story was originally published August 17, 2018 at 5:24 PM.