Gary Myers gets special treatment in final sentence for triple murders: Given probation for testifying
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Gary Myers entered a guilty plea to the charge of accessory after the fact and was placed on two years unsupervised probation. His plea came Friday afternoon before Judge John Turnbull at DeKalb County Courthouse, effectively bringing to a conclusion the prosecutions of the four people indicted for roles in the murders of Dianne Watts, 42, her daughter, Jessica Watts, 10, and family friend Chelsie Smith, 13.
?It?s been a painful seven years,? said Dianne Watts? sister Brenda Fisher after attending Gary Myers? plea along with many family members of the victims. ?We all think there were more people who knew what happened but at least we know of two who will never get free.?
In light of his client?s plea, Gary Myers? defense attorney Allen Hale said he sympathizes with the victims, noting his client did all he could to help the guilty be brought to justice ? even though they were members of his own family.
?He will have to live the rest of his life with the taint of what his family did on his head,? Hale said. ?He testified about what he knew in the trials against his own family.?
Hale said his client had nothing to do with the murders although he did learn of certain details of the crimes after the fact, details Hale said he shared with prosecutors.
?Mr. Myers would never hurt a hair on their heads,? Hale said. ?We?re just glad this long nightmare is over. God bless the victims? families.?
Grandmother of murder victim Chelsie Smith, in defiance of a court order not to wear light green in the courtroom which has been used to memorialize her granddaughter, still feels those guilty needed tougher punishment.
?There?s no justice in the court system,? said Ruth Smith. ?Victims are treated like nothing by the courts.?
Mealonie Lowry, the mother of Chelsie Smith, said she feels the guilty parties received about what she predicted.
?I guess it was the best that could be expected under the circumstances,? Lowry said. ?We think Dale Potter and his staff, as well as all the others who worked on the case, did a great job and we appreciate them.?
Potter said Gary Myers, originally charged with first-degree murder along with his brother, kept up his end of the bargain to help put the guilty in jail, thereby warranting the probationary sentence.
As for his mother, Clementine Myers, convicted of criminally negligent homicide for her involvement, appeals are still ongoing to determine if prosecutors can try her again for murder conspiracy after a hung jury on that charge. Also up for appeal is whether she is to serve 10 months or 20 months on her convicted charge.
?She should have been in prison right beside her son,? Fisher said. ?There?s no reason she should be able to drag it out because she?s just as guilty as the rest of them.?
Some of the victim? family members are worried the elder Myers, now around 70, may die of natural causes before she sees the inside of a jail cell. Potter said the appeals likely won?t be finished until the turn of the year, noting it will be up to his successor, Lisa Zavogiannis, to pick up the ball and run with it in regards to retrying Clementine Myers.