About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 13, 2021)
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 ENTER TO WIN! Win an all-inclusive, 3-day waterfall sightseeing, backpacking, and camping adventure by World's Best Adventures. Trip departs on Oct. 22, 2021, and returns on Oct. 24, 2021. To enter, email info@worldsbestadventures.com with a brief explanation of why you should be chosen. World’s Best Adventures is an all-inclusive outdoor excursion and education company headquartered at the base of the Appalachian Trail in North Georgia. Visit us at worldsbestadventures.com
