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8A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, October 13,2021
DCHS student named to
State Superintendent’s
Student Advisory Council
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
Addeline Wright, a
senior at Dawson County
High School, was recent
ly selected by
State School
Superintendent
Richard Woods to
serve on his 2021-
22 Student
Advisory Council,
according to a
release by the Wright
Georgia
Department of Education.
“I am absolutely hon
ored to have been select
ed as a member of the
Superintendent Advisory
Council,” Wright said.
“The prospect of being
able to influence Georgia
schools is exciting. It is a
privilege to represent our
school and county
throughout this process.”
Wright said that, in
order to get accepted into
the program, she had to
run on a platform of
improvement within the
school system. She chose
a platform of emphasiz
ing mental health days
for the students.
“My idea was to give
students two excused
mental health days per
semester,” Wright said. ‘I
am very enthusiastic
about this plan,
and I am very
excited to see how
everything plays
out. I am looking
forward to being
part of an elite
group of students
from Georgia to
create positive
change for our state.”
Woods selected a total
of 66 high school stu
dents throughout the
state of Georgia to serve
on the council.
According to the release,
the council includes stu
dents representing all
regions in the state, and
those chosen were select
ed from a pool of over
1000 students in grades
10 through 12 that
applied to serve on the
council.
“Applications were
reviewed and scored by a
panel of GaDOE staff
members, and students
were chosen based on the
strength of their essay
answers, which focused
on their ideas for public
education,” the release
said.
As members of the
council, Wright and the
other 65 students chosen
will meet with Woods
throughout the year to
discuss the impact of the
state’s policies within the
classroom. The students’
input will be taken into
account by the Georgia
Department of Education
when making choices
regarding policies that
affect the students.
“Year after year, my
Student Advisory
Council is an invaluable
resource as I make deci
sions that impact students
across the state,” Woods
said in the release.
“Getting to know these
students and seeking
their feedback and per
spectives allows all of us
at the Georgia
Department of Education
to make the best possible
policy choices.”
Gainesville teenager charged in
Dawson County with three felonies
Julia Fechter
jfechter@dawsonnews.com
One 17-year-old now faces a trio of
felony charges after Dawson County
Sheriff’s Office deputies apprehended
him last week.
Jose David Yanez of
Gainesville was arrested by
DSCO on Sept. 29 at about 1
p.m. He was charged with pos
sessing marijuana and a con
trolled substance with the intent
to distribute, as well as posses
sion of a firearm/knife during Yanez
commission of a crime.
The sheriff’s office initiated a drug
investigation on Aug. 27, a month before
Yanez’s arrest. Warrants for the charges
allege that Yanez committed the acts at
the intersection of Ga. 53 and Dawson
Forest Road on Sept. 27 between 1:42-
4:25 p.m.
Upon a search of his car on Sept. 29,
officers found nine new unopened THC
cartridges, a schedule 1 substance, in the
vehicle’s trunk.
Also found was 6.5 ounces of marijua
na, an amount that the corre
sponding warrant noted was
“more than what is common for
personal consumption.” There
were also plastic baggies with the
drug but no apparent device for
consumption.
During the search, Yanez alleg
edly had a gold-colored 1911
handgun within reach, inside his
car’s center console.
Yanez’s bond amount is listed as
$11,200. However, all charges list the
bond type as “NO BOND.”
DCN will update this story as we learn
more information.
FROM 1A
Bender
In addition to the exist
ing offences, Stryker was
charged with 10
more violations of
Georgia’s Street
Gang Terrorism
and Prevention
Act for a total of
11 counts. Harper
was charged with
two more for a
total of three such
counts.
These addition
al charges reflect
the prosecution’s
intent to link
events surround
ing Bender’s
murder to the
defendants’
alleged participa
tion in a small criminal
gang called “THIS.”
Earlier in July,
Gosselin struck count 12,
the gang violation, from
Stryker’s first indict
ment. In her order, she
cited that that particular
charge failed to provide
crucial details such as
what gang Stryker was
alleged to be involved
with; his involvement
with said group and rele
vant predicate acts.
These kinds of details,
the order stated, would
help alert the defendant
to potential witnesses or
acts that could be used
against him at trial. That
order concluded that
count 12 be struck
because it also failed to
charge Stryker with any
of the 10 gang-related
acts listed in Georgia law
OCGA 16-15-4.
The state took a differ
ent approach when it
chose to reindict Stryker
and Harper. In the sec
ond indictment, their
gang-related counts each
read as connected to a
specific previous count.
In light of those charg
es, Gosselin’s denial of
the motions for complete
discovery and exclusion
of intrinsic act
evidence marks
an important step
in the case.
The prosecution
successfully
argued that under
the relevant stat
ute, they could
introduce at trial
another 2019 case
in which Stryker
is a defendant, a
pending case of
armed robbery in
Lumpkin County.
Mention of that
case came up
when Dawson
defendants Isaac
Thomas Huff and Dylan
Patrick Reid testified at
their plea and sentencing
hearing on April 15,
2021. As reported in a
Forsyth News article
then, their testimonies
alleged that Stryker coor
dinated Bender’s murder
and Harper approved of
it.
“Each testified [then]
saying the reason he
(Stryker) wanted Hannah
Bender dead is because
he thought she would
snitch on the armed rob
bery,” Assistant District
Attorney Shiv Sachdeva
said emphatically at the
hearing on Oct. 8.
Sachdeva went on to
say that evidence includ
ing Huff’s and Reid’s
testimonies will be used
to prove motive for the
murder rather than prove
the separate act of armed
robbery.
Defense attorney
Brock Johnson lamented
that he and his colleague,
Kyle Denslow, don’t
have full discovery mate
rials from Lumpkin
County to make a fair
judgment about the rob
bery’s greater or lesser
role in the murder
motive.
However, ADA Conley
Greer clarified that the
defense counsel already
has the necessary evi
dence regarding the rob
bery. Ultimately, Greer
and Sachdeva argued that
information about the
armed robbery goes
toward establishing the
gang-related aspects of
Bender’s murder.
As to the motion for
severing Harper’s case
from Stryker’s, Judge
Gosselin agreed with the
prosecution that jurors
won’t confuse the two
defendants’ charges.
“For judicial econo
my’s sake...the indict
ment makes it very clear
who committed the mur
der... we have to show he
was the member of a
gang and committed the
murder with his
(Harper’s) approval,” she
said.
The judge decided to
wait to rule on the
motion to allow or not
allow autopsy, exhuma
tion and in-life photo
graphs of Bender. ADA
Sachdeva committed to
letting the defense know
within a week about
what exact images the
state plans on using as
evidence.
“This case is going to
be tried on Nov. 1,”
Gosselin said. “There’s
no continuance. I’ll make
myself available between
now and then. This case
is of paramount impor
tance to get done to
everybody.”
DCN will provide
updates as this case pro
gresses.
Harper
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