Cobb County gang member pleads guilty to several violent crimes, including manslaughter, Ga. attorney general says
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A Marietta gang member charged in the deadly shooting of a Cobb County man during a drug deal has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in that case and to other violent crimes he was charged with when he was a teenager, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced Monday.
Donald Bannister, now 20, pleaded guilty on Nov. 1 to two counts of violation of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act and drug charges in connection with the killing of Norval Bailey in June 2021, and to charges stemming from an assault of a Cobb County Detention Center inmate in 2020 and robbing and assaulting two others during a 2019 drug deal at a Marietta hotel, according to Carr.
When entering his pleas, Bannister admitted to being a member of 2Solid, a “hybrid criminal street gang” in Cobb County with ties to the Bloods, Carr said.
Bannister “further indicated that he had been a member of 2Solid since he was 15,” Carr added.
Bannister was sentenced to 30 years, with the first 19 to be served in prison and the remainder on “strict probation,” Carr said.
Around 9 p.m. on June 15, 2021, Marietta police officers responded to an apartment complex on Massachusetts Avenue in Marietta in reference to a person shot.
Officers found Bailey near the parking lot with two gunshot wounds. EMS tried life-saving measures and transported Bailey to a hospital, but he died from his injuries, Carr said.
Carr said investigators found that Bailey met with Bannister to buy marijuana, and during the transaction, a dispute led to a fight and Bannister shot Bailey twice.
“Norval Bailey lost his life in a senseless shooting that should have never occurred,” Carr said in a statement. “It’s Donald Bannister’s violent actions that resulted in this tragic death and the injury of three others. Now justice has been served, and the Bailey family has finally been provided with a sense of closure as they continue to mourn the passing of their loved one.”
At the time of the deadly shooting, Bannister had already been charged with attempting to rob an 18 and 19-year-old during a drug deal at a Marietta hotel on Jan. 29, 2019, during which Bannister, then 15, shot the 18-year-old and “pistol whipped” the 19-year-old, according to Carr. Both victims made a full recovery, Carr said.
While Bannister was in custody at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center on charges stemming from the 2019 robbery and assaults, he and two other inmates assaulted another inmate, according to Carr.
Bannister pleaded guilty to the following charges in Cobb County Superior Court.
In the shooting death of Norval Bailey:
- One count of voluntary manslaughter
- Two counts of violation of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act
- One count of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute
- One count of attempted sale of marijuana
In the physical assault of another inmate in September 2020:
- One count of aggravated assault
- Two counts of violation of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act
In the attempted armed robbery and assault of an 18 and 19-year-old in January 2019:
- One count of attempted armed robbery
- One count of aggravated battery
- One count of aggravated assault
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