Augusta man brutally beaten in jail as a teen convicted in 2020 double homicide
Two men were convicted Friday morning and another is expected to plead guilty to a double murder at a Harrisburg neighborhood barbershop in 2020.
Kazarie Middleton, 21, of Augusta, and Cortez Berry, 27, of Augusta, were found guilty on all counts – including malice and felony murder, according to a news release from the Augusta District Attorney's Office.
A third suspect charged in connection to the killings, Marquise Harris, 18, of Augusta, is set to plead guilty, according to the release.
The men will be sentenced on May 31 by Judge Amanda Heath, according to the DA's office. The minimum sentence for murder is life in prison.
2020 Augusta robbery gone wrong
On Nov. 23, 2020, Richmond County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to a shooting at Johnson's Beauty & Barber Salon on Eve Street and found two men, Wyman K. Scott, 34, and Miguel D. Freeman, 48, shot to death.
The three suspects allegedly shot and killed the two men while attempting to rob the business, according to arrest warrants.
Deputies found one of the two guns used in the shooting hours later when they pulled over a car Middleton was riding in, according to previous reporting. The gun was reported stolen a week prior to the killings.
While Middleton and Berry denied any involvement in the shooting, Harris, who is taking a guilty plea, told deputies the robbery was Berry's idea, The Chronicle reported.
Harris said he was the driver and waited outside in the car while Berry and Middleton went inside, according to previous reporting. He told deputies he heard several gunshots then the two men came out, got in the car and he drove off.
"[Freeman and Scott] deserved better than the senseless violence that claimed their lives," District Attorney Jared T. Williams wrote in the release. "Their families deserved better. Our community deserves better. Your District Attorney's office will continue fighting to make this a safer place to call home."
Berry's criminal history, high-profile beating in jail
Berry was arrested in 2011, when he was just 14 years old, in connection to an armed robbery on Douglas Street, according to previous reporting. He was charged with aggravated assault, theft of a motor vehicle and robbery, but was sentenced to probation in juvenile court.
His probation was revoked in 2013, at age 16, and he was ordered to serve the remainder of his 8-year sentence in confinement, The Chronicle reported. He was first sent to the Augusta Youth Development Campus and transferred to a correctional facility when he turned 17.
In 2015, while being held in a Forsyth jail, a photo taken inside of the jail of Berry kneeling on the ground with his left eye swollen shut and a rope tied around his neck went viral on social media, The Chronicle reported. An inmate standing behind Berry had the end of the rope looped around his hand.
Berry was put into protective custody at the Burress Correctional Training Center pending a transfer to Smith State Prison in Glenville when the incident occurred, according to previous reporting.
After the incident drew international news coverage, nearly 100 people showed up at the Augusta Judicial Center to advocate for prison reform, The Chronicle reported.
Berry's girlfriend found out about the attack when an inmate called her and demanded hundreds of dollars in exchange for Berry's safety, according to previous reporting.
His girlfriend later found the photo circulating on Facebook, but Berry's mother said nobody from the Corrections Department contacted her or returned her repeated calls, The Chronicle reported.
Berry was paroled from prison three months before the double homicide, according to previous reporting.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Two convicted, another to plead guilty in 2020 Augusta double homicide
