Man gets 20 years in attack on 'pistol-packing granny'

Brenton Lance Spencer had been working at Cherokee Brick & Tile for three years when he demanded money from a woman at gunpoint April 21, 2012.

He told a judge Thursday that he didn’t do it for the money.

“I made a bad decision,” he said.

The judge replied, “You picked the wrong lady to rob.”

Lulu Campbell had just dropped off her 15-year-old grandson at her daughter’s house on Macon’s English Avenue.

Campbell was still sitting in her truck at about 2 a.m. when Spencer came to the passenger side with a gun.

Another man, 33-year-old D’Antre H. Shivers allegedly approached from the front. Spencer fired a shot at Campbell, and she returned fire, shooting Spencer in the chest. Shivers also allegedly fired shots.

Spencer, 35, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault during a Thursday hearing in Bibb County Superior Court before Judge Howard Simms. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Spencer’s plea was part of an agreement with prosecutors that requires him to cooperate with authorities and testify, if needed, in proceedings involving Shivers. Depending on his level of cooperation and truthfulness, Spencer can request that the judge reduce his sentence.

Shivers’ case is still pending. He is charged with attempted armed robbery, aggravated assault and a gun charge.

Prosecutor Neil Halvorson said Spencer and Shivers left English Avenue in a Mazda Tribute. About 30 minutes later, an accident involving the vehicle was reported at the Flash Foods at the intersection of College and Forsyth streets.

Police reviewed surveillance video and talked with a store clerk. They determined Shivers went behind the store and hid two guns. Another man drove Spencer the remaining couple of blocks to the hospital, Halvorson said.

Halvorson said Spencer showed a detective his wound at the hospital and remarked, “Did you see what that old lady did to me?”

Shivers’ lawyer, Debra Gomez, said at a hearing last week that her client has an alibi. Witnesses are set to testify and support Shivers’ story that he drove his mother’s car to Wings Café on Bloomfield Drive and remained there when Spencer and another man left in the car at about 12:14 a.m.

Although Gomez has conceded that Shivers tried to hide the guns, she said the description of the man who fired at Campbell doesn’t match her client.

Information from Telegraph archives was used in this story.

This story was originally published September 18, 2014 at 11:31 AM with the headline "Man gets 20 years in attack on 'pistol-packing granny'."