ATLANTA — Cobb County prosecutors on Wednesday formally declared their intent to seek the death penalty against the man accused of killing three people last year at a Kennesaw-area golf course.
Wearing black slacks and a white dress shirt, Bryan Anthony Rhoden appeared for the first time before a superior court judge. The 24-year-old faces three counts of murder and a host of other charges in the July 3, 2021, slayings at Pinetree Country Club.
Two men from out-of-state were found tied up and shot to death in the back of a Dodge pickup truck on the 10th hole, and Gene Siller, the course’s beloved golf director, was killed when he went to investigate, authorities said.
The killings stunned the community, and it was several days before Rhoden was arrested.
In May, Cobb District Attorney Flynn Broady’s office notified the court clerk it planned to seek the death penalty against Rhoden. Wednesday’s hearing, held before Superior Court Judge Robert Flournoy III, was a formality known as the unified appeal procedure. Such hearings are required in Georgia’s death penalty cases before court proceedings can move forward.
Flournoy, a longtime judge who recently turned 70, is retiring at the end of the year. He will be replaced by incoming Superior Court Judge Sonja Brown, who is set to inherit the high-profile case. Brown was among those who looked on during the hearing, which lasted less than 40 minutes.
Prominent Atlanta defense attorney Bruce Harvey, who had represented Rhoden since his arrest, formally withdrew as his lawyer during the proceeding. Rhoden will instead be represented by attorneys from the Georgia capital defender office.
Rhoden declined to speak Wednesday at the urging of his new attorneys, but capital defender Joshua Moore said his client will plead not guilty.
“Mr. Rhoden is certainly going to be pleading not guilty and certainly going to be contesting the factual allegations in this case vehemently,” Moore said.
In addition to Rhoden, two others are charged in connection with the grisly triple slaying.
Justin Caleb Pruitt was indicted earlier this year on two counts of felony murder and two counts of kidnapping with bodily injury. Taylor Nicole Cameron, who investigators allege later retrieved the weapon used in the killings at Rhoden’s behest, is charged with criminal attempt to commit tampering with evidence.
Paul Pierson, 76, and Henry Valdez, 46, were found tied up and shot in the back of Pierson’s Dodge pickup truck on the 10th hole of the golf course, not far from Kennesaw State University’s main campus. Pierson lived in Topeka, Kansas, and Valdez was from Anaheim, California.
Siller, the course’s golf pro, went to find out why the truck had driven onto the fairway and gotten stuck near a sand trap, investigators said. The country club was gearing up for its Independence Day festivities and was busy at the time.
A husband and father of two young sons, Siller had no connection to the suspects or the other two victims, according to police. Investigators said the 46-year-old “happened upon a crime in progress” and was fatally shot as employees and club members looked on in horror.
His widow, Ashley Siller, was seated in the front row of the courtroom Wednesday alongside several family members.
Rhoden, an aspiring musician with a lengthy arrest history, took to Instagram for the first time earlier this year, decrying what he called “erroneous” allegations against him and saying news reports about the killings “could not be further from reality.”
“In my absence, I ask that the people keep an open mind as to what led to the unfortunate turn of events and who is responsible,” the post said.
He has been in jail since his July 2021 arrest, and it’s unclear if he has access to a mobile device behind bars or if someone made the post on his behalf.
Pruitt’s warrant, issued Dec. 15, alleges he acted as a “co-conspirator and accomplice” in helping bind Pierson and Valdez with duct tape and zip ties at a building along Jonesboro Road in Clayton County. He is also accused of helping transport the men more than 40 miles to the golf course, where investigators say Pierson and Valdez were killed by Rhoden.
Rhoden’s case marks the first time Broady has pursued the death penalty since becoming district attorney in January 2021.
It’s the first death penalty case in Cobb since former DA Vic Reynolds announced he would seek the ultimate punishment against Dafareya Jamal Hunter, who is accused of raping and killing his 14-year-old stepdaughter in 2016 before burning the house in an attempt to hide his crime. That case is still pending.
Rhoden has not been arraigned, but Flournoy tentatively scheduled his arraignment hearing for mid-to-late December. That should give Rhoden’s new attorneys time to review the state’s evidence while allowing Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Green to take maternity leave, he said.
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