Gwinnett Daily Post

ATLANTA -- The Supreme Court of Georgia has upheld the 2009 murder conviction and life sentence of a Stone Mountain man who shot his victim in the head during a drug deal gone bad, officials said Monday.

Malcolm Taurean Johnson was convicted on murder charges by a Gwinnett County jury in December 2009. About two years prior, Johnson set up a marijuana deal at a Stone Mountain apartment complex with a South Carolina dealer known to distribute high-grade product.

When the dealer, Roscoe Gordon, 31, and childhood friend Dedric Thompson, 28, made the trip from Greenville, Johnson and another man ambushed them. Johnson shot Thompson in the head and killed him, Gordon testified during the original trial. Gordon was also shot but survived.