(Lawrenceville, Ga., 7/7/26) – The Georgia Supreme Court upheld the murder convictions of two of the men found guilty in a fatal 2022 gang carjacking. A third assailant’s appeal is pending.

The Georgia Supreme Court upheld the murder convictions of two of the men found guilty in a fatal 2022 gang carjacking. A third assailant’s appeal is pending.

In a unanimous decision, the Georgia Supreme Court Justices ruled against the appeals that Miles Chatezal Collins and Josiah Hughley, Jr., brought in the case that found them guilty of, among other charges, felony murder, aggravated assault, hijacking a motor vehicle, and violating Georgia’s Street Gang, Terrorism and Prevention Act for their respective parts in the shooting death of 30-year-old Bradley Lamar Coleman.

Hughley and Collins, along with co-defendant David Jarrad Booker, are each serving life sentences plus 145 years in prison.

“We are grateful for this affirmation from the Georgia Supreme Court,” District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said. “Thanks to the incredible work of our team of trial and appellate prosecutors, and all of the staff that assisted with defending these convictions, two dangerous criminals will remain in prison.”

On July 10, 2022, Coleman was pumping air into his tire at a Quik Trip station in Peachtree Corners when Collins, Hughley, and David Jarrad Booker – each professed Blood gang members – pulled the rented Mercedes-Benz sedan they were in next to Coleman’s car in an effort to steal Coleman’s Dodge Charger to increase their gang status. Coleman was fatally shot as he attempted to prevent the theft, and the three men fled in the rented Mercedes-Benz. All three were convicted by a jury during a trial in January 2025 and sentenced to life in prison.

On appeal, Collins and Hughley challenged the sufficiency of evidence to support the hijacking and related gang charges and claimed that the court (the judge) made errors in allowing evidence and instructing the jury. Supreme Court Justices, however, disagreed with the claims that evidence of the hijacking and gang charges was insufficient, and they ruled that the defendants, through their attorneys, failed to object to any perceived errors during the trial.

The Justices also disagreed with Hughley’s assertion that his attorney provided ineffective assistance of counsel during the trial.

Chief Assistant District Attorney John Melvin tried the case, and he and Appeals Managing Assistant District Attorney Cliff Kurlander briefed the appeal on behalf of the District Attorney’s Office.