Following the guilty pleas of the fourth defendant in a Jones County case involving armed robbery, home invasion and aggravated assault, the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney gave credit to the Jones County Sheriff’s Office, its deputies and investigators for the resolution of a complicated case that avoided a lengthy jury trial but put the perpetrators behind bars for decades.
The last two defendants entered their pleas Aug. 22 with the trial set to begin Monday morning.
District Attorney T. Wright Barksdale stated in an interview immediately after the plea of the last defendant, Donnie White, the hard work and tenacity of the Jones County Sheriff’s Office overwhelmed the defendants. “They did not know how to react or respond to the investigation that was conducted and the prosecution that was preparing to take them to trial. These people are all from Macon; they’re not from Jones County. That is what we are fighting, the serious issues in Bibb County,” Barksdale said. “The fact that two of these defendants pled guilty and agreed to multiple life sentences is a true testament of the work the DA’s office and sheriff’s office have done together, to the point we have mixed feelings that we are not going to trial.”
Brothers Terrell Mills and Shaun Mills and codefendants Corey Tremaine Wallace and Donnie White were indicted by a Jones County Grand Jury in August of 2023 for crimes that occurred that January.
Barksdale said Shaun Mills, Terrell Mills and Wallace went to a home located on the south side of Jones County Jan. 12, 2023, and committed the offenses of home invasion, armed robbery and aggravated assault. The victims included three children and their mother. Nine days after the home invasion, the Mills brothers, Wallace and Donnie White, all from Bibb County, entered the 49er Mart located off Shurling Drive and committed multiple counts of armed robbery and aggravated assault. The arrest of Terrell Mills took place not long after on Jan. 27, 2023. Shaun Mills was arrested March 15, 2023, Wallace April 20, 2023, and White, May 15, 2023.
The Mills brothers were each indicted for the crimes of home invasion, burglary in the first degree, four counts of aggravated assault, seven counts of armed robbery and seven counts of aggravated assault.
Wallace was indicted on the same charges as Terrell and Shaun Mills. White was not charged in the home invasion but was indicted for all the armed robbery charges.
Wallace was the first of the defendants to enter a guilty plea. He did not have a criminal record before his arrest, and that was reflected in his negotiated plea. Wallace pled guilty May 9 to five charges of aggravated assault and was sentenced to 20 years for four of the counts and 10 years for the fifth count. Two of the 20-year sentences will run consecutively with the 10-year sentence for a total of 50 years with the first 30 years served in confinement.
The younger brother, Shaun Mills, entered a guilty plea Aug. 15 to seven counts of armed robbery. He was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole on each of the seven counts. Those counts will run concurrently, and he will receive credit for time served in custody from the time of his arrest.
The life sentence means he will not be eligible for parole for 30 years.
Both Terrell Mills and White entered their pleas Aug. 22. Mills was first and received the same sentence as his brother, seven life sentences with the possibility of parole and credit for time served since his arrest. He will not be eligible for parole for 30 years.
Both of the Mills brothers have been previously convicted for multiple felonies.
White pled guilty to five counts of aggravated assault. He received 20 years for the first four counts and 10 years for the fifth counts. Two of the 20-year sentences will run together but consecutively with the others for a total of 50 years with the first 15 years to serve.
White did not have a criminal record until his Jones County arrest.
Barksdale thanked JCSO Investigators Crystal Murphy, John Simmons and the rest of the criminal investigation unit of the Jones County Sheriff’s Office for their work on the case. He said the District Attorney’s Office would also like to thank Investigator Tony Moss with the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office for his assistance, as well as Clay Wiggins with the District Attorney’s Office.
He said the investigators have worked with him, almost on a daily basis, for the last six to seven weeks preparing the case.
“We’ve been to Alabama and all over Atlanta and Macon, looking in every nook and cranny that you can think of, tracking down witnesses, tracking down victims,” he said. “And that’s what it takes for the Jones County community to enjoy the safety we have.”
The DA noted that the crimes happened in January of last year and for the case to be ready for trial now was a quick turnaround.
Barksdale said an example of just how dangerous these men are was demonstrated in a phone call made by Terrell Mills that morning.
“Crystal Murphy intercepted a call by Terrell putting a hit on his own brother. These are the people we are dealing with,” he said.
He stated the defendants went into a Jones County home and held a gun to the heads of a sixth, seventh and ninth grader, pistol-whipped their mother in front of them and then shot at her.
“That bell can never be unrung. What those children experienced, they will have to live with the rest of their lives,” he said.
Barksdale said the two brothers are by far the most culpable in the case. If they do get paroled out, which he doubts would happen because of the multiple sentences, they will be well into their 70s.
Murphy said they have put in a lot of work preparing for trial and agreed the pleas were a little bittersweet.
“But it was a good resolution that we were able to resolve it without going to trial,” she said.
The evidence book she compiled for the trial is a binder four inches deep and represents hundreds of hours of investigative work.
The investigator said she appreciated that, when Barksdale handled the pleas, he did a good job of putting out there what happened.
Barksdale added that every one of the four defendants in the Jones County case is under indictment in Bibb County for murder. He said they shot and killed a man Jan. 21, 2023, then shot his wife and child in their driveway before coming to Jones County within the hour to commit the 49er armed robbery.
“I really want to impress on the public what a wonderful sheriff’s office they have,” he said. “They are not perfect, but these guys and girls bust their fannies every day to do their very best. There is no way we would have gotten the results we did without their work both on the front end and the assistance to me and my office as we geared up for trial.”
The DA said the only reason the defendants pled and accepted the big sentences they got is because they knew the state was ready and they were about to be held accountable in front of a Jones County jury.
Barksdale said he filed recidivist notices for Terrell and Shaun Mills, which if convicted at trial would have multiple sentences of life without parole for every charge.
He said the Jones County Sheriff’s Office is out there doing the work every day.
“It’s my privilege to work with such fine law enforcement officers who I also consider dear friends,” he said. “And as a citizen, I appreciate the heck out of them.”
