(Lawrenceville, Ga., 8/16/2024) – A Buford man who killed a teen during a botched a drug robbery will serve a life prison sentence.

A Gwinnett County jury on Thursday evening found Jaiden Williams, 20, guilty of two counts of felony murder, aggravated assault, criminal attempt to commit a felony and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony for the July 26, 2021, shooting death of 17-year-old Orbit Pough III.

“The victim’s family suffered a tragic loss,” District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said. “The defendant was only 17 years old when he took the victim’s life. This sentence will be a long and hard lesson for him to learn from. But we simply cannot tolerate our young people following such violent paths.”

Evidence presented in the trial showed that Williams, who was 17 at the time, told Pough that he wanted to buy a TCH vape cartridge. But Williams was not carrying any money to make the purchase when he met Pough at the Kroger parking lot in Grayson – only a gun. Despite prosecutors pointing to evidence that the two were strangers, Williams insisted during the trial that he and Pough were friends. He told police that on the night of the shooting he was riding in the car with Pough on the way to a drug deal, and he shot Pough when Williams said Pough started to look suspicious.

Investigators found that Pough died from a gunshot wound in his side and barrel contact marks from a shooting at close range. Pough was also armed, but pulled his weapon and fired only after Williams drew down on him and opened fire. While Pough’s wound was fatal, the shot he returned struck Williams in the neck, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

Williams was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole, plus five years on probation.

Assistant District Attorneys Han Chung prosecuted the case with assistance from Investigator Christina Newman and Victims’ Advocates Shenita Coward, Sonia Davis-Bey and Esther Askew. Officer C. Lymber of the Gwinnett County Police Department led the police investigation.

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