Shaddi Abusaid

5 days ago | ajc.com | Shaddi Abusaid

A woman who expressed remorse for an Easter Sunday hit-and-run crash that left five people dead, including three children, was released from prison after serving 14 years of her 36-year sentence. Aimee Michael was 22 when authorities said she caused the April 12, 2009, chain-reaction wreck on Camp Creek Parkway before fleeing the scene and trying to cover it up with the help of her mother.

1 week ago | ajc.com | Shaddi Abusaid

It seems like every parent’s worst nightmare. A strange man walks up to a young mother in a public place, makes a little small-talk and then tries to snatch away her 2-year-old child. But is that what actually happened last month at the Acworth Walmart? Several former prosecutors and local defense attorneys who reviewed the supermarket’s surveillance footage Wednesday say no way. Mahendra Patel, a 56-year-old real estate investor and father of two, has been held in jail without bond since March 22.

1 week ago | ajc.com | Shaddi Abusaid

Surveillance footage of an alleged kidnapping attempt inside an Acworth Walmart appears to contradict the police department’s narrative that a man tried to snatch a 2-year-old boy from his mother’s arms. Now, a Cobb County attorney is demanding her client be released from jail and that all charges be dropped in the case.

1 week ago | ajc.com | Shaddi Abusaid

In 2023, Danyel Smith turned down a chance at freedom. Convicted 20 years earlier in the shaken-baby death of his 2-month-old son, Chandler, he would have been allowed to walk out of prison in exchange for a guilty plea. But Smith rejected the deal offered by Gwinnett County prosecutors, saying he refused to “admit to something he did not do.”Smith, who was sentenced to life in prison, could get a new trial as Georgia’s highest court considers the case. More StoriesFeaturedGov.

1 week ago | macon.com | Jozsef Papp |Shaddi Abusaid

It's been more than two weeks since the Clayton County Sheriff's Office mistakenly released a convicted murderer from custody. Those with experience hunting down fugitives say Kathan Guzman is probably long gone, and he may have gotten assistance from a family member or friends. "If he's smart, he definitely left Georgia," said Patrick McCall, a private investigator who specializes in fugitive cases in the United States and abroad. "This guy is looking at some serious time.