The victims he targeted were particularly vulnerable — three were homeless, and the fourth was a petite hairdresser walking alone at night.
On Monday, Aeman Presley, an unemployed actor charged with four murders over a 10-week period in late 2014, pleaded guilty in DeKalb County Superior Court to two of the killings, avoiding a possible death sentence, for now.
Presley, 35, will serve consecutive life sentences plus 10 years after reaching a plea deal with DeKalb prosecutors. He was about to stand trial for the murders of 53-year-old Calvin Gholston in September 2014 and 44-year-old Karen Pearce, shot in the chest in December of that year as she was walking to her car in downtown Decatur.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard has said he will seek the death penalty against Presley for the deaths of Dorian Jenkins and Tommy Mims, shot during Thanksgiving week as they slept on Atlanta's streets.
Presley’s lawyer said her client is schizophrenic, as was Gholston.
“We believe mental illness was a part of these crimes,” defense attorney Jerilynn Bell said.
In court Monday, Presley spoke of demons he has wrestled with his entire life.
"I am not a serial killer," he said. "I'm a brother that had some really serious issues and problems who did some things that I'm not proud of today. What I did was ungodly, unrighteous, dishonorable and plain wrong."
His admission provided little solace to those who knew Pearce best. The Smyrna hairstylist was about to change vocations, having studied to become a nurse while still working full-time.
“She believed in the underdog, said John Bulluck, friends with Pearce for 16 years. “She believed we were supposed to help the people who couldn’t defend themselves.”
“The world is a smaller place without Karen,” he said.
Presley was arrested a week after Pearce's murder by MARTA police after attempting to jump the fare gate at the Georgia State rail station without paying. A loaded revolver and a box of ammunition were found on him that matched the weapon police believe was used in the shooting of Mims and Jenkins. Presley confessed to all four murders, according to law enforcement.
He had moved back to Atlanta after pursuing an acting career in Los Angeles. On the next to last day of 2013, Presley posted a rambling polemic on Facebook in which he declared, "We are all gods capable of good and evil … and can do whatever we want on Earth. Whether it be good or evil because that's the divine right we were given."
Speaking to the court on Monday, Presley said he was prepared to be held accountable for his behavior. He pleaded guilty to two counts of malice murder, multiple counts of felony murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
“I just want my daughter and especially my two boys to know what taking responsibility for your actions truly is and truly means,” he said. “My apologies to you all.”
DeKalb District Attorney Robert James said he was pleased Presley agreed to a plea deal.
“We believe it was the best thing to do,” he said. “The death penalty as an option is not something I’m crazy about.”
Pearce’s mother indicated in her victim impact statement that she would have preferred Presley be sentenced to death.
“We could not believe she had been taken so violently and suddenly from our lives,” Nell Pearce wrote. “The loneliness and sadness we feel is enormous. I have nightmares of the terror Karen went through and how frightened she must’ve been.”
