Macon man collapses in court as he’s about to plead guilty in friend’s shooting death
A young man on trial for murder in the 2018 shooting death of a close friend during what prosecutors described as a gun battle decided on Wednesday to accept an offer to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter.
But during the plea hearing in Bibb County Superior Court, Dawan J. Daniels Jr. collapsed as he stood before the judge.
Daniels, 21, appeared to faint briefly while a prosecutor was summarizing the facts of the case against him. Paramedics examined him and said his vital signs were normal after he came to, but he was taken to a hospital as a precaution.
Daniels has been out of jail on bond in the wake of the shooting of his 18-year-old friend, Da’Kwaun T. Faulks, who was mortally wounded in late summer 2018.
Prosecutors say the deadly episode happened near the intersection of Burton Avenue and Winifred Way, just north of the Mercer University Drive intersection with Anthony Road.
Daniels, 18 at the time, and Faulks were in a running feud, possibly because of a theft, with a former close friend, Zontravion K. Hernandez, then 17, who lived in the area, investigators have said. During an apparent confrontation there Aug. 19, 2018, numerous gunshots were fired and Faulks was shot once in the back.
Daniels, accused of aggravated assault and felony murder — firing gunshots in an altercation that resulted in Faulks’ death — went on trial Tuesday, facing a possible life sentence if convicted.
But on Wednesday morning Daniels accepted the prosecution’s offer to plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter and to a gun charge, which combined carry a maximum 25-year prison term.
As the plea hearing unfolded, Daniels appeared to pass out, falling sideways.
Jurors in the case didn’t see him collapse. They had been taken to a jury room to wait in case Daniels’ plea fell through.
His plea hearing was to resume Thursday morning, though jurors — unaware of Daniels’ intention to enter a plea — were asked to return to court in case the trial continues.
This story was originally published March 23, 2022 at 2:06 PM.