A defendant in a 2019 Jones County family violence aggravated assault case was pushed from the courtroom in a wheelchair by his mother following his most recent guilty plea in Superior Court.
John Wayne Childers received a sentence of 20 years May 12 for the charge of aggravated assault family violence and five years for the charge of false imprisonment. The two counts are to run concurrently for a total of 20 years with the first three years served in confinement and the remainder of sentence to be served on probation. The defendant received credit for time served from March 14, 2019.
It appeared the defendant’s obviously declining health played a part in the confinement portion of the sentence.
According to the Georgia Department of Corrections website, Childers was incarcerated from June 6, 2019, to Feb. 24, 2022, due to the revocation of his probation May 9, 2019, in Jones County.
The charges Childers faced May 12 were the result of his March 14, 2019, arrest on charges of criminal trespass under family violence, possession of a firearm or knife while trying to commit crimes, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and aggravated battery.
Over the past decade and a half, Childers has spent over 11 years in prison. His road to prison started with the stabbing of two men in Jones County and his Oct. 13, 2003, arrest.
The Georgia Department of Corrections lists Childers’ first incarceration in 2004 for two charges of aggravated assault that carried a total sentence of 15 years. He served two and a half years of that sentence and was released Dec. 25, 2006. He was back in prison Aug. 21, 2007, to serve almost two more years of that sentence and was released July 21, 2007.
Childers was incarcerated in 2012 for a new charge. The offender was arrested Sept. 7, 2012, for charges of burglary and simple battery. He pled guilty to the charges Nov. 15, 2012, and was sentenced to a total of nine years. Childers served six years of that sentence and was released Dec. 26, 2018. All the listed charges are from Jones County convictions.
The incident that led to Childers’ most recent incarceration took place March 13, 2019. The victim of the assault told officers she escaped from the Jones Mill Circle residence and went to a neighbor’s house.
The victim’s hand was cut, and the weapon was recovered. She was taken for treatment and Childers was arrested at the residence the following day. He was indicted by a Jones County Grand Jury April 16, 2019, for the new charges in the case that was resolved May 12.
