Life sentence for man convicted of murder in Barrow Co

by Cailin O’Brien, AJC — A Griffin man will spend the rest of his life in prison for his role in a home invasion turned murder in 2014.

Marquavis Benton, 28, along with Stone Mountain resident Marckell Honeycutt, 18, and Kathryn Amelia Voight, 29, told police they met Auburn resident Brian Whitfield, 44, at a hotel in DeKalb County, according to Gwinnett police Det. C.J. Flynn at a preliminary hearing on the case in January 2015.

Flynn said the three suspects told police Whitfield invited them all back to his Auburn house on Dec. 6, 2014, for “drug-related” reasons and to pay for sex with Voight. Whitfield’s sister, Tonya Milton, said at the time that her brother wouldn’t have paid for sex or been involved with drugs.

“I don’t know what happened, but I do know my brother,” she said. “I don’t know if someone is trying to throw blame on him to make themselves look better. I do feel like other things potentially transpired that we are not aware of and may never be aware of.”

What investigators now know is that Benton and the two women with him eventually began robbing Whitfield’s home.

“As he held Whitfield at gunpoint, Benton directed the two females to begin loading Whitfield’s possessions into Whitfield’s Dodge Rumblebee truck,” according to a summary of trial evidence.

Whitfield tried to get away. He ran down his driveway toward the road. But Benton followed him and began firing the gun. He reportedly fired five shots, killing Whitfield. Flynn obtained a recording of Benton saying that he shot Whitfield “because he was running.”

“Benton and the females then left the property in Whitfield’s truck, taking with them a television, jewelry and several guns,” according to trial evidence.