Macon man pleads guilty in 2018 ‘gun battle.’ Now he faces another murder charge
A Macon man who was 17 when he was involved in an August 2018 “gun battle” that claimed the life of another teen pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter Monday in Bibb County Superior Court.
Zontravion Keontae Hernandez, who turns 21 later this month, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in the slaying of 18-year-old DaKwaun Tyre Faulks.
Though he could be paroled in less than 20 years, serious criminal charges remain for Hernandez, who while out on bond earlier this year in Faulks’ death was arrested on a murder charge in the March 3 shooting of 16-year-old Ahmori Searcy at Majestic Gardens apartments on Rocky Creek Road.
Hernandez, who quit school after the 10th grade and has worked at a car detail shop and at Kroger, was released from jail on bond last September after spending more than two years in the county jail awaiting trial in Faulks’ shooting.
Hernandez was arrested March 20 in Searcy’s death after he was in a car stopped for what police described as a traffic violation in northern Bibb County.
In court Monday, prosecutor Brian Granger said the 2018 shooting that left Faulks dead stemmed from a running feud that involved Faulks, Hernandez and another teen.
“A gun battle broke out, with guns on both sides,” Granger said. “Mr. Faulks was shot one time (in the back) and died. ... This was a needless, foolish situation.”
In Faulks’ death, Hernandez had been charged with felony murder stemming from the shooting that cost Faulks his life.
Hernandez’s defense attorney, J. Travis Griffin, said his client along with Faulks and the other teen involved in the shooting were “all very good friends until shortly before this incident. They had some issues between them and that led to Mr. Faulks’ untimely passing.”
Griffin said that had the case gone to trial, there was eyewitness testimony that the other teen, also charged with felony murder, fired the fatal shot. That teen, Dawan Jasentay Daniels Jr., now 21 and of Byron, is at large after posting bond and then failing to appear in court in April, according to court records.
Monday morning in court there was no mention of the outstanding murder charge that Hernandez still faces.
After he entered his plea, he sat along a wall to the left of the judge’s bench with his head bowed at times, dabbing at tears, as his mother, Takeysha Jolly, spoke on his behalf.
“He’s a very good kid,” she said, adding that her son would “give you his last dollar. ... He’s sweet. It’s just a misunderstanding. ... Something went wrong, and I hate that this even took place.”
This story was originally published August 16, 2021 at 1:44 PM.