The third defendant accused of burglarizing Cora Flower’s Solomon Street residence — Jemarcus Johnson, of Barnesville — was tried this week in Spalding County Superior Court.

“It occurred March 12, 2009,” said Assistant District Attorney Alaina Sullivan, who prosecuted the case. “He was accused of entering Cora Flowers’ house on Solomon Street and taking property without permission.”

According to Sullivan, Johnson was not alone in his actions as two other men were also arrested and charged in the incident.

“We actually had two co-defendants who pled out early in the case. The first is Tahje Bumford and the other is Timothy Whitaker. Jemarcus Johnson, along with those two men, went into her (Cora Flowers’) house and took a wallet and money belonging to Matthew Flowers, Cora’s brother who also lived there,” Sullivan said. “There were also two laptops taken, a gaming system and a lot of medications — a whole bunch of medications.”

Sullivan described some of the medications stolen from the residence as over-the-counter drugs used to treat colds and pain, “along with numerous prescription medications.”

Johnson, who was charged with one count of burglary, had at one time provided investigators with a confession.

“The issue at trial was that previously in the case, he had given a written, signed confession. In his confession, he said his two co-defendants went inside and did everything and he just waited outside,” Sullivan said. “So, the issue at trial then was whether the defendant was a party to the crime, if you believe all he did was wait outside. Even if he did just stand outside and act as the lookout, he’s still guilty of the full crime.”

While Johnson elected to testify in his own defense, Sullivan said he provided a different version of the March 12 events than in his confession.

“He testified at trial and he basically stated a different version of the story,” she said. “Now, seven months later at trial, he said not only that he did not enter the residence, but that he left — he walked away — and met up with his co-defendants later, which is when he was arrested.

Johnson was convicted of the single count of burglary brought against him and was sentenced to serve five years in prison, followed by 10 years on probation. In addition, he was also levied a $20,000 fine by Superior Court Judge Christopher Edwards.

In their individual plea agreements, Bumford received a sentence of three years and Whitaker agreed to a five-year sentence.

When asked if Johnson had a criminal record prior to this incident, Sullivan said, “He didn’t have a criminal record, but he did have another case with our office that had just been taken to the grand jury in October. In that case, he was indicted for criminal attempt at financial transaction card fraud. Ironically, in the Flowers burglary, he had in his pockets bank cards belonging to the victims.”

Sullivan said she credits the conviction to the work of Sgt. Dwayne Hancock, of the Griffin Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Division.

“He did a great job,” she said. “He put a great case together for us and we got a conviction.”