SCOGA sends murder case with Forsyth Co., Lake Lanier connections back to lower court

ATLANTA - The Supreme Court of Georgia (SCOGA), has ordered that a man who pleaded guilty to killing and dismembering a another man over a drug debt will get another chance to argue that his conviction should be thrown out. But the ruling was not unanimous.<br /> <br /> The court split 4-3 in overruling a number of prior decisions related to how courts determine whether a person's guilty plea was made voluntarily. <br /> <br /> Michael Lejeune appealed after he was convicted of the Dec. 1997 murder of Ronnie Davis, 39, over a $250 drug debt. Lejeune's girlfriend, Kelly Anand, who testified in exchange for a dismissal of the murder and aggravated assault charges facing her in the case, said that after Lejeune killed Davis at a house in Fulton County, she helped dismember the body, put in in the trunk of Lejeune's car and drive it to a Forsyth County cemetery.<br /> <br /> There, Anand testified, they set the car on fire. But they kept the head because the bullet was still inside it, placed it inside a bucket of cement and tossed it into Lake Lanier.<br /> <br /> It has never been recovered.<br /> <br /> Lejeune pleaded guilty to the charges facing him and was given a life sentence without parole. However, he later appealed, saying his guilty plea was not given voluntarily.<br /> <br /> (See link below for more on his arguments and the Supreme Court's ruling.)<br /> <br /> <br />