"Life in Prison" for Spalding County Child Molester

Marie Broder

District Attorney

Griffin Judicial Circuit

Last week, my Spalding County office tried the case of the State of Georgia vs. Markel Taiwon Amey. Amey was convicted of molesting an eight-year-old family member over a period of approximately a year and of securing her and her siblings’ silence through threats and physical abuse. The abuse became known to family members when the victim’s younger brother told his stepmother that Amey would take his sister in a bedroom and lock the door when their father would leave for work.

 

After deliberating for nearly five hours, a jury found Amey guilty of Aggravated Sodomy, Aggravated Child Molestation, Sexual Battery of a Child under 16, three counts of Child Molestation, and two counts of Cruelty to Children in the First Degree. Amey was subsequently sentenced to serve life in prison plus twenty years, followed by twenty years on probation.   

 

During sentencing, the Honorable W. Fletcher Sams called the children heroes, and said that after the verdict of the jury, the victim would never have to worry about being abused by the defendant again.

 

District Attorney Broder said of the verdict, “this week, members of our Spalding County community stood in the gap between a predator and his victim and said ‘no more.’ I am very proud of the jurors in this case and of Senior Assistant District Attorney Kate Lenhard and Assistant District Attorney Adelle Petersen who presented the case. My office will continue to fight with all we have for the most vulnerable in our community.”