COLQUITT COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) — Now to an unusual charge filed in connection to an on-going Colquitt County murder case.
A juror who served in the June 2017 murder trial is now charged with perjury.
Anyone who has been called for jury duty knows you go through a pretrial process in which the judge and lawyers try to decide who is fit to serve.
We spoke with Georgia Bureau of Investigations and the District Attorney who reviewed this case. They said it was during this phase of the 2017 murder trial of Jaquan Willis that juror Tambrest Keyes-Jones did not disclose that she knew a witness who was testifying.
Information about that eventually made its way to the District Attorney, who asked the GBI to open an investigation on the juror in January 2018.
Investigators reviewed transcripts and eventually, a perjury warrant was issued. Keyes-Jones turned herself into the Colquitt County jail last week.
You may remember this case, it was a high profile one.
Willis is accused of killing Fatisha Clark in the Ryce Community Center parking lot after getting into a fight with six others. His trial ended with a hung jury. To this date, Willis has yet to be retried.
Back in 2017, Clark's mother told us she hoped Willis would not face another trial on the murder charge.
"They charged him with the gun, but the murder charge I didn't want him to have. He didn't really murder her. It was shooting and it was a big accident," said Bobby Jean Smith.
There has been no word yet on when Keyes-Jones might go to trial.
Willis was 16 at the time that Clark was shot and 17 during the 2017 trial.
