Georgia · Albany, Dougherty County · Crime & Courts

Albany, GA Murder Trial: Shaquille Mathis, Jawaski Kennedy

Opening statements began Aug. 12, 2026 in the Dougherty County murder trial of Shaquille Mathis in the October 2020 death of Jawaski Kennedy, 28. WALB reports the district attorney told jurors a witness claims Mathis fired the fatal shot, and that the defense told the same jury no witness saw him fire at all. Both are lawyers talking. No evidence has been weighed and no verdict exists.

What happened in the courtroom on Aug. 12

A jury in Albany heard opening statements on Wednesday in a murder case that has been waiting almost six years. WALB reports that Dougherty County District Attorney Greg Edwards “made the remarks Aug. 12 during opening statements in the murder trial for Shaquille Mathis.”

The run-up is in the same newsroom’s earlier story. WALB reported that jury selection began Monday, Aug. 10, and in an update timestamped Aug. 11 at 6:45 p.m. wrote: “Court concluded Tuesday with the state and defense selecting the perfect jury of 12. Court is expected to resume Wednesday at 10 a.m. with opening statements.”

One decision was taken before either lawyer stood up. WALB reports that “Before opening statements, Superior Court Judge Victoria Darrisaw addressed prosecutors’ concerns about cameras in the courtroom during the trial.”

What has not happened is the part that matters most on a page like this one. No witness testimony appears in anything cited here. No exhibit has been described. No ruling on evidence has been reported. No verdict exists. Everything below that sounds like an account of a killing is a lawyer’s description of what that lawyer expects a jury to hear, and each one is labeled that way every time it appears.

Shaquille Mathis has been charged and convicted of nothing. Under O.C.G.A. § 16-1-5, every person is presumed innocent until proved guilty, and no person shall be convicted of a crime unless each element of such crime is proved beyond a reasonable doubt. That sentence is the operating rule for this entire page.

An opening statement is not evidence

This section exists because the rest of the page depends on it. Almost everything published anywhere about what happened on a night in October 2020 currently traces to two speeches given on Aug. 12, and a speech is not proof of anything.

• An opening statement is a roadmap. Each side tells the jury what it expects the evidence to show, so that jurors can follow testimony that arrives piece by piece and out of order
• It is not evidence, and jurors are instructed that it is not. Nothing a lawyer says from the podium can be weighed as proof. Only testimony, exhibits and stipulations can
• It is a promise that can go unkept. A prosecutor who describes a witness who never testifies, or who testifies differently, has proved nothing at all — and defense counsel will say so in closing
• It is adversarial by design. The state goes first and gets to frame the case. That ordering is procedure, not an indication of strength
• It is not a police finding, an indictment or a court’s conclusion. An indictment reflects a grand jury’s probable-cause decision, which is a far lower standard than the one this jury will apply

So when this page reports what Greg Edwards said, it is reporting what a prosecutor said. When it reports what Angela Dillon said, it is reporting what a defense attorney said. Neither is reported as fact, and the distinction is not softened anywhere below.

What the district attorney told the jury

Everything in this section is the state’s allegation, delivered in an opening statement, as reported by WALB. None of it is a finding.

The theory of the case, in WALB’s words: “Dougherty County District Attorney Greg Edwards said the murder of Jawaski Kennedy, 28, was the result of gang retaliation for a double murder that happened just four days prior.”

What Edwards said about the shot, again per WALB: Edwards said Mathis “fired the deadly shot while driving a borrowed rental car,” and “He said a witness claims Mathis shot Kennedy in the head.”

Read that sentence structure carefully, because it is the most important one on this page. It is a prosecutor telling a jury what he expects a witness to say. It is not the witness saying it. It is not sworn testimony. It is not something a court has accepted. This page does not restate it in its own voice anywhere, in any section, including the headline and the fact card.

The framing Edwards used for the wider dispute: WALB reports that “During opening statements, Edwards painted a picture of a violent, years-long war between two Albany gangs: the Bloods and Rattlers,” and that “He said Mathis targeted Kennedy as retaliation for a gang-related double murder on Oct. 13, 2020.”

That is a prosecutor’s characterization of a city, two groups and a motive, offered to explain why the state says a killing happened. It is not this page’s description of Albany, of anyone in it, or of Shaquille Mathis. This page does not describe any person as a gang member.

What the defense told the jury

The defense position, in full, as it appears in the record compiled for this page: WALB reports that “In her opening statement, Defense Attorney Angela Dillon told the jury no witnesses will testify to have seen Mathis fire the deadly shot.”

That is one sentence and it is carried here with the same weight as the several paragraphs above it. A defense opening is routinely shorter than the state’s, because the defense has nothing to prove. The burden sits entirely with the state, from the first juror sworn to the last instruction read.

What Dillon’s sentence puts directly at issue is the same claim Edwards led with. The state says a witness claims Mathis shot Kennedy in the head. The defense says no witness will testify to having seen Mathis fire. Those two statements cannot both survive the evidence, and which one does is the trial.

Nothing else from the defense appears in anything cited here. No alibi, no alternative account, no motion described, no statement from Shaquille Mathis. Whether he will testify is not addressed in the record compiled for this page, and a defendant is never required to.

A page that prints a prosecutor’s opening at length and buries the defense in a clause is a page doing the state’s work. That is why this section stands on its own.

Jawaski Kennedy, and the night of Oct. 17, 2020

The man who was killed is named in every WALB story cited here: Jawaski Kennedy, 28.

The date and place come from WALB’s January 2021 report of an Albany Police Department release. The station wrote that “Murder warrants have been issued for two men in the death of Jawaski Kennedy, 28, in Albany on October 17, 2020, according to a press release from the Albany Police Department,” and that “Kennedy was killed in a shooting in the 700 block of West Highland Avenue around 11:30 p.m. on Oct. 17, a police report stated.”

The account of the shooting in that 2021 story is attributed to police, not to a court: “APD said the two victims were walking to their car when an unknown suspect(s) drove past in a white sedan and opened fire.” The words unknown suspect are the police department’s, written months before anyone stood trial.

A second person was hurt. WALB’s 2021 story says “A 24-year-old woman was also injured in the same shooting.” WALB’s Aug. 12, 2026 subheadline describes the same event as “Man killed, girlfriend injured outside House of Jazz in October of 2020 in alleged gang retaliation shooting.” She is not named in anything cited here and she is not named here.

Nothing else about Jawaski Kennedy appears in the record compiled for this page. No occupation, no family, no statement from anyone who knew him. This page does not reach for a characterization of a man it knows almost nothing about, and it publishes no photograph.

Nearly six years passed between that night and this jury. Nothing cited here explains the gap, and this page does not guess at one.

Where: the 700 block of West Highland Avenue

Two locations appear in the record compiled for this page and they are not stated the same way.

WALB’s January 2021 story, citing a police report, places the shooting in the 700 block of West Highland Avenue in Albany, around 11:30 p.m. on Oct. 17, 2020.

WALB’s Aug. 12, 2026 subheadline places it “outside House of Jazz.” The body of that Aug. 12 story does not mention House of Jazz, and nothing cited on this page reconciles the venue name with the block reference. Both are printed here and neither is resolved.

A block reference is deliberately imprecise. The 700 block names a stretch of street with addresses numbered from 700 to 799 rather than a specific address. Agencies use block references to locate an incident publicly without publishing a doorway.

Albany is the seat of Dougherty County in southwest Georgia, and the Albany Police Department is a city agency — not the Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office, which runs the jail and is a different agency entirely.

A caution about searching. Albany is a far better known place name in New York and in Oregon, and search results mix the three constantly. A search for this case works with “Albany GA” or “Dougherty County” in it and fails badly without.

No coordinates and no address appear on this page, and no map is drawn from a block reference.

The counts Shaquille Mathis faces

WALB’s Aug. 10 story lists them, and this page reproduces the station’s wording rather than tidying it into legal style:

• Malice Murder
• Felony Murder
• Aggravated Assault (two counts)
• Possession of a firearm during the comm. of a felony
• Violation of Street Gang Act

One count came off. WALB reports that “Shaquille Mathis no longer faces Conspiracy to Commit Murder as he is now the only defendant in the case.” A conspiracy count generally requires an agreement between people, so a case reduced to one defendant is a case where that count has nowhere left to sit.

The indictment had nine counts across three defendants. WALB reports that Shawanda Mathis originally faced five of the nine counts listed in the indictment, plus a charge of Making False Statements, and that Carlos Mathis faced seven of the nine.

Every one of those is an accusation. A count is the state’s written claim that it can prove specific elements beyond a reasonable doubt to twelve jurors. It establishes nothing on its own, and a list of serious-sounding counts is not a description of a person.

Those counts under Georgia law

General background on what each count means in Georgia, not a comment on the evidence in this case.

• Malice murder and felony murder are both murder under O.C.G.A. § 16-5-1. Malice murder requires malice aforethought, express or implied. Felony murder requires that a death was caused in the commission of a felony, irrespective of malice. Prosecutors routinely charge both theories for one death, and charging both does not allege two deaths
• Aggravated assault is O.C.G.A. § 16-5-21. A person commits it by assaulting another with intent to murder, to rape, or to rob; with a deadly weapon or an object likely to or actually resulting in serious bodily injury; with an object likely to or actually resulting in strangulation; or by discharging a firearm from within a motor vehicle toward a person or persons without legal justification. The base punishment in subsection (b) is imprisonment for not less than one nor more than 20 years
• Two counts of aggravated assault do not by themselves establish two victims. The record compiled for this page does not say what either count alleges, and this page does not assign them to anyone
• The firearm count is O.C.G.A. § 16-11-106, which makes it an offense to have a firearm, or a knife with a blade of three inches or more, on or within arm’s reach during the commission of or attempt to commit certain felonies, including crimes against a person. A first conviction carries five years, to run consecutively to any other sentence
• Violation of the Street Gang Act is O.C.G.A. § 16-15-4, discussed in its own section below

Punishment ranges are printed here because people ask, not because anything on this page suggests a sentence. Sentencing follows conviction, and no conviction exists in this case.

The gang count is a charge, not a description

This site does not call people gang members. Not in a headline, not in a fact card, not in a caption, and not in a sentence that hides behind an adverb.

What exists in the record compiled for this page is two separate things, and they get separated here on purpose.

• A framing. WALB reports that Edwards “painted a picture of a violent, years-long war between two Albany gangs: the Bloods and Rattlers” during opening statements. That is a prosecutor’s narrative offered to a jury
• A count. WALB’s Aug. 10 list of the charges Shaquille Mathis faces includes “Violation of Street Gang Act.” That is a formal accusation the state must prove

The statute behind that count is the Georgia Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act. Under O.C.G.A. § 16-15-4(a), it is unlawful for any person employed by or associated with a criminal street gang to conduct or participate in criminal gang activity through the commission of an offense enumerated in the act’s definitions section. The state has to prove the association and the predicate offense, both beyond a reasonable doubt.

A gang count is one of the most consequential allegations a Georgia prosecutor can bring, and it is also one of the most contested. It carries a mandatory minimum on conviction and it invites evidence about associations and reputation that a defendant then has to answer. That is a reason for a news page to be more careful with it, not less.

So the rule this page follows is simple: the state alleges. This page reports the allegation and attributes it. Nobody named on this page is described by this page as belonging to anything.

The mother and brother whose charges were dismissed

Two people who were originally charged in this case are no longer charged in it, and that fact deserves as much prominence as the charges once did.

WALB, Aug. 12: “Shaquille Mathis’ brother, Carlos Mathis, and their mother, Shawanda Mathis, were originally charged in connection with the murder, but all charges against them were dismissed Monday.”

WALB, Aug. 10: “Now, according to Dougherty County District Attorney Greg Edwards, Shaquille Mathis is the only person facing charges in connection with Kennedy’s death,” and “Ultimately, DA Edwards says the state decided Monday to dismiss all charges against the mother and Carlos Mathis.”

The state’s stated reason, quoted by WALB from court records: “Although probable cause existed for the arrests, and the indictment of these defendants... The state believes that the best interests of justice and the judicial efficiency are served by the continuing prosecution of the remaining defendant, Shaquille Mathis.”

A severance motion had been filed before that. WALB reports that court documents show defense attorneys for Shawanda Mathis filed paperwork to sever her trial from her son’s, listing as reasons that the number of defendants creates confusion as to the law and evidence applicable to each defendant; that evidence admissible against the codefendants is not admissible against this defendant; and that the defenses are antagonistic, and the family relationship magnifies every danger.

Neither Carlos Mathis nor Shawanda Mathis is on trial, neither has been convicted of anything, and nothing on this page suggests either of them did anything. They appear here because a page that reported their arrests and then went silent on their dismissals would be leaving the wrong impression standing.

A dismissal is not an acquittal, and the DA said so

These two words get used interchangeably and they are not the same thing.

• A dismissal is a decision by the prosecution to stop pursuing charges. No jury weighed anything. No judge found anything about guilt
• An acquittal is a verdict of not guilty after the state has presented its case. It ends the matter and, in the ordinary course, cannot be undone

The district attorney drew that line himself, in a quote WALB attributes directly to him: “While the state is no longer pursuing charges against Carlos Mathis, the state is not barred later in pursuing charges against him for this homicide.”

That statement is included because omitting it would be misleading in the other direction. It would be just as wrong to write that Carlos Mathis has been cleared as to write that he did something. Neither is established, and this page states the posture instead: charges were dismissed, and the prosecutor has said publicly that the door is not closed.

Nothing in the record compiled for this page describes any statement by Carlos Mathis or Shawanda Mathis, or by any attorney speaking for them beyond the severance filing. No response from either appears here because none appears in anything cited.

The earlier killings the DA raised

The prosecution’s stated motive rests on a different crime, four days earlier, and it is reported here with care because two people who died in it are not on trial and cannot answer anything said about them.

WALB reports that Edwards “said Mathis targeted Kennedy as retaliation for a gang-related double murder on Oct. 13, 2020,” and that “Wontania Hall, 26, and” a second victim, age 14, “were found dead at an apartment on Wingate Avenue in Albany.”

This page does not name the 14-year-old. WALB publishes the name; this site does not name minors, and that rule does not bend because a case is old or because a child died. The age is given because the age is what makes the fact matter.

The connection between the two events is the district attorney’s allegation and nothing more. Nothing cited here says anyone has been convicted in the Oct. 13 deaths, says who the state believes was responsible for them, or establishes that the two events are linked. A jury has not accepted that link, and this page does not present it as established.

The phrase “gang-related” in that sentence is the prosecutor’s, relayed by WALB. It is not this page’s characterization of the deaths of a 26-year-old woman and a 14-year-old child.

No cameras, and a witness in protective custody

The trial is proceeding without television cameras, and the newsroom that covered it explained why.

WALB reports: “Before opening statements, Superior Court Judge Victoria Darrisaw addressed prosecutors’ concerns about cameras in the courtroom during the trial. A witness scheduled to testify for the state was reportedly taken into protective custody before the trial over fears of retaliation.”

And then the station’s own decision, in its own words: “WALB voluntarily decided not to cover the trial with cameras in order to protect the identity of the witness.”

Nothing cited here says the judge barred cameras. The station describes concerns being addressed and describes its own voluntary choice. Those are two different things and this page does not merge them into a court order that no source describes.

Georgia trials are presumptively open to the public, and camera access in a Georgia courtroom is a separate question decided by the judge on request. A decision about cameras is not a closure of the courtroom, and nothing cited here suggests the public was excluded.

The witness is not identified here, and this page publishes nothing that could narrow who that person is. That is the same reason WALB gave for keeping its cameras out.

Where our sources differ

The last row is the one to sit with. In January 2021 the police department’s public account described an unknown suspect in a white sedan. In August 2026 a prosecutor told a jury a specific man fired while driving a borrowed rental car. Both are printed here, dated and attributed, and neither is presented as the settled version.

One newsroom stands behind this page

Everything on this page comes from WALB. That is a television station in Albany owned by Gray Media, and Gray Media is counted once no matter how many of its stations carry a story.

• WALB, Aug. 12, 2026, by Jerry Goodman — the opening statements. Source for the DA’s framing, the witness claim as Edwards described it, the defense opening, the dismissal of the co-defendants, the judge, the cameras and the protected witness
• WALB, Aug. 10, 2026, by Mackenzie Petrie, updated Aug. 11 — jury selection. Source for the full list of counts, the dropped conspiracy count, the nine-count indictment, the severance filing, the Edwards quote about not being barred from pursuing charges later, and the jury of 12
• WALB, Jan. 4, 2021, by Krista Monk — the original warrants. Source for the Oct. 17, 2020 date, the 700 block of West Highland Avenue, the 11:30 p.m. time, the injured 24-year-old woman, the APD account of a white sedan, the ages of the two brothers at that time

Three stories from one newsroom are three stories from one newsroom. They are not three confirmations. No government release, no court filing obtained directly, and no second newsroom stands behind anything on this page, and this page does not imply otherwise anywhere.

What that means practically: if WALB got a detail wrong, this page carries it wrong. That is why every contested statement here is tied to a specific story and a specific date rather than floated as general knowledge.

What a trial decides, step by step

General Georgia procedure, not a prediction about this case.

• Jury selection. Lawyers question a panel and strike jurors. In a Georgia felony trial in superior court the jury is twelve, and WALB reports twelve were seated here on Aug. 11
• Opening statements. The state first, then the defense, which may also reserve. Not evidence
• The state’s case. Witnesses testify and are cross-examined. Exhibits go in. This is the only part where proof happens
• A motion for directed verdict may follow, asking the judge to rule the state’s proof legally insufficient on one or more counts
• The defense case, if there is one. A defendant does not have to testify, does not have to call anyone, and a jury may not hold silence against him
• Closing arguments, then the judge’s charge to the jury on the law
• Deliberation and verdict, which in Georgia must be unanimous, count by count
• Sentencing, if there is a conviction, is a separate proceeding

The whole structure exists to answer one narrow question for each count: has the state proved every element beyond a reasonable doubt. Under O.C.G.A. § 16-1-5, every person is presumed innocent until proved guilty, and no person shall be convicted of a crime unless each element of such crime is proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

What a verdict is and what it is not

A verdict is a decision about proof. It is not a historical record, it is not an official account of a night, and it does not settle what a family believes.

• Guilty means twelve jurors agreed the state met its burden on that count. It says nothing about counts they did not reach
• Not guilty means the state did not meet its burden. It is not a finding of innocence, and Georgia juries are not asked to declare anyone innocent
• A split verdict is ordinary. Juries convict on some counts and acquit on others in the same case constantly
• A hung jury is not a verdict at all. If jurors cannot agree, the judge may declare a mistrial and the state may retry the case
• A conviction is not the end. There is a motion for new trial and then an appeal, and in Georgia a murder conviction appeal goes to the Supreme Court of Georgia

No verdict exists in this case, and this page will not have one. It records the opening of a trial and nothing beyond it.

How to attend or follow a Dougherty County trial

Criminal trials in Georgia are open to the public, and that includes this one, notwithstanding the camera question.

• The trial is in Dougherty County Superior Court in Albany. The courthouse posts a calendar, and the clerk’s office can say which courtroom a case is in
• Screening at the door is standard, and phones are frequently restricted or prohibited inside a courtroom during a trial
• Recording, photographing or broadcasting requires permission from the judge. Walking in with a camera rolling is not an option anywhere in Georgia
• Seats are limited in a case with witness-safety concerns, and courtroom deputies control the gallery
• Do not approach jurors, witnesses or family members in a hallway. It is the fastest way to become part of a proceeding you came to watch
• The clerk of superior court is the custodian of the file, not the district attorney and not the police department

How to get court records in Dougherty County

Different offices hold different pieces, and a request sent to the wrong one comes back empty.

• The Clerk of Superior Court, Dougherty County holds the indictment, the docket, motions, orders and the verdict form. Court filings are generally public and are obtained from the clerk
• The Albany Police Department holds the original 2020 incident report. That is a city agency record, requested under the Georgia Open Records Act, O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70 and the sections that follow it
• Under O.C.G.A. § 50-18-71 an agency must respond within a reasonable amount of time not to exceed three business days, and where responsive records exist but are not available in that window it provides a description of such records and a timeline for their delivery
• If an agency withholds, subsection (d) requires it to notify the requester of the specific legal exemption relied on, and to give a cost estimate where the estimated cost will exceed $25
• Copying is capped at ten cents per page for letter or legal size documents, with search and retrieval charged at no more than the prorated hourly salary of the lowest-paid full-time employee capable of doing the work, and no charge for the first quarter hour
• Records tied to a pending prosecution are frequently withheld or redacted, which is ordinary rather than unusual
• Identify the matter precisely: the name Jawaski Kennedy, Oct. 17, 2020, the 700 block of West Highland Avenue in Albany

The Local Alert has not obtained any record in this case — no indictment, no transcript, no incident report. Everything here comes from the three WALB stories listed at the bottom.

Victim resources in Georgia

General information for anyone in Georgia, not a statement about anyone connected to this case.

• Georgia’s Crime Victims Compensation Program, administered through the state’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, can help with funeral and burial costs, counseling and certain other expenses for family members of a homicide victim. It has deadlines and generally requires that the crime was reported to law enforcement
• Georgia’s crime victims’ rights laws give a homicide victim’s family standing to be notified of proceedings and to be heard at certain stages. That only works if the prosecutor’s office has current contact information
• Victim-witness advocates work inside district attorneys’ offices and exist to explain what stage a case is at, when to be in a courtroom, and what a hearing means. The service is free
• A trial is not the only track. A criminal case belongs to the state; a wrongful death claim belongs to a family and does not depend on a conviction
• Testifying is frightening and there is a process for safety concerns. Raise them with the prosecutor’s office rather than deciding alone not to appear
• Attention: a trial date brings uninvited approaches, by phone and at the door. Nobody is obligated to sign anything and nothing has to be decided that week

The Local Alert is not a law enforcement agency, not a court and not a law firm, and cannot tell any individual what to do.

What we don’t know yet

Nothing above is filled in by inference. This page records what one newsroom established as of the timestamp at the bottom and does not revisit itself. For the current posture of a case in progress, the Dougherty County Superior Court clerk’s office is the custodian of the file.

Advertisement

Ask VIC

Victim of a shooting in Georgia?

Get your questions answered.Free, any hour.

Ask what happens next, who pays for what, and what nobody is required to sign.

Answers for victims and their families.A real person, around the clock.Nothing to fill out. Nothing to sign.

(855) 5-ASKVIC (527-5842)

Free24/7Any question

Frequently asked questions

What happened in court in Albany on August 12, 2026?
Opening statements began in the murder trial of Shaquille Mathis in Dougherty County Superior Court. WALB reports that Dougherty County District Attorney Greg Edwards told the jury the murder of Jawaski Kennedy, 28, was the result of gang retaliation for a double murder that happened just four days prior, and that Defense Attorney Angela Dillon told the jury no witnesses will testify to have seen Mathis fire the deadly shot. Both of those are statements by lawyers, not evidence and not findings.

Has Shaquille Mathis been convicted of anything?
No. The trial began with opening statements on August 12, 2026 and nothing cited on this page describes a verdict. Under O.C.G.A. § 16-1-5, every person is presumed innocent until proved guilty, and no person shall be convicted of a crime unless each element of such crime is proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Nothing on this page states that Shaquille Mathis did anything. Every allegation here is identified as the state's allegation.

Did a witness say Mathis shot Jawaski Kennedy in the head?
That is what the district attorney told the jury he expects a witness to say. WALB reports that Edwards said Mathis fired the deadly shot while driving a borrowed rental car, and that “He said a witness claims Mathis shot Kennedy in the head.” That is a prosecutor's opening statement describing testimony he intends to present. It is not testimony that has been given, it is not evidence, and it is not a finding by any court. This page never states it in its own voice.

What is the defense saying?
WALB reports that in her opening statement, Defense Attorney Angela Dillon told the jury no witnesses will testify to have seen Mathis fire the deadly shot. That is the whole of the defense position that appears in the record compiled for this page. It carries exactly the same weight as the prosecution's opening statement: it is a lawyer telling a jury what that lawyer expects the evidence to show.

Who was Jawaski Kennedy?
A 28-year-old man killed in Albany, Georgia. WALB reported in January 2021 that murder warrants had been issued in the death of Jawaski Kennedy, 28, in Albany on October 17, 2020, according to a press release from the Albany Police Department, and that Kennedy was killed in a shooting in the 700 block of West Highland Avenue around 11:30 p.m. on Oct. 17, per a police report. Nothing else about him appears in the record compiled for this page.

What is Shaquille Mathis charged with?
WALB's August 10, 2026 story lists the counts he faces as Malice Murder, Felony Murder, Aggravated Assault (two counts), Possession of a firearm during the comm. of a felony, and Violation of Street Gang Act. The same story reports that he no longer faces Conspiracy to Commit Murder now that he is the only defendant in the case. A count is an accusation the state has to prove, not a description of anything that has been established.

Is Shaquille Mathis a gang member?
Nothing on this page says so, and this page will not say so. WALB reports that Edwards painted a picture of a violent, years-long war between two Albany gangs, and that framing belongs to the district attorney in an opening statement. Separately, WALB's August 10 story lists Violation of Street Gang Act among the counts Mathis faces. A count under Georgia's Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act, O.C.G.A. § 16-15-4, is an allegation the state must prove beyond a reasonable doubt to a jury. It is not a label this page applies to anyone.

What happened to the other two defendants?
All charges against them were dismissed. WALB reports that Shaquille Mathis' brother, Carlos Mathis, and their mother, Shawanda Mathis, were originally charged in connection with the murder, but all charges against them were dismissed Monday, and that Shaquille Mathis is now the only person facing charges in connection with Kennedy's death. Neither of them is on trial, and nothing on this page suggests anything about either of them.

Why were those charges dismissed?
WALB quotes court records giving the state's reason: “although probable cause existed for the arrests, and the indictment of these defendants... the state believes that the best interests of justice and the judicial efficiency are served by the continuing prosecution of the remaining defendant, Shaquille Mathis.” WALB separately quotes District Attorney Greg Edwards saying, “While the state is no longer pursuing charges against Carlos Mathis, the state is not barred later in pursuing charges against him for this homicide.”

Is a dismissal the same as being found not guilty?
No. A dismissal is a decision by the prosecution to stop pursuing charges. An acquittal is a decision by a jury or a judge after evidence. The two are legally different, and the district attorney's own quoted statement that the state is not barred from later pursuing charges against Carlos Mathis is a description of that difference. Neither man had a trial and neither had a verdict.

What is an opening statement?
It is the roadmap each side gives a jury before any evidence is presented. The prosecutor describes what the state expects to prove; the defense describes what it expects the evidence will fail to show. Nothing said in an opening statement is evidence, no juror may treat it as proof, and a lawyer who describes testimony that never arrives has proved nothing at all. Every account of the shooting on this page comes from an opening statement, and every one of them is labeled that way.

What does a criminal trial actually decide?
Only whether the state has proved each element of each charged count beyond a reasonable doubt, and nothing else. It does not decide what really happened in any broader sense, it does not settle a dispute between families, and it does not produce an official history of a night. Under O.C.G.A. § 16-1-5, every person is presumed innocent until proved guilty. A jury that returns a not guilty verdict has not declared anyone innocent; it has found the state's proof insufficient.

Why were there no cameras in the courtroom?
WALB reports that before opening statements, Superior Court Judge Victoria Darrisaw addressed prosecutors' concerns about cameras in the courtroom during the trial, that a witness scheduled to testify for the state was reportedly taken into protective custody before the trial over fears of retaliation, and that WALB voluntarily decided not to cover the trial with cameras in order to protect the identity of the witness. That is the station describing its own editorial decision.

How many independent sources are behind this page?
One newsroom. Everything on this page comes from WALB, a Gray Media television station in Albany, across three of its stories: an August 12, 2026 report by Jerry Goodman, an August 10, 2026 report by Mackenzie Petrie updated August 11, and a January 4, 2021 report by Krista Monk. Three stories from one newsroom are three stories from one newsroom, and Gray Media is counted once. No government release, no court document obtained directly and no second newsroom stands behind anything here.

How do I get the court file in this case?
Criminal case filings in a Georgia felony prosecution are held by the clerk of superior court in the county where the case is tried, which here is Dougherty County. Filings are generally public and are requested from the clerk, not from a police agency or a district attorney. Police incident reports are separate records, held by the Albany Police Department, and are requested under the Georgia Open Records Act, O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70 and the sections that follow it. Under O.C.G.A. § 50-18-71 an agency must respond within a reasonable amount of time not to exceed three business days, and copying is capped at ten cents per page for letter or legal size documents.

Will this page be updated with the verdict?
No. This page records what one newsroom established as of the timestamp on it, and nothing revisits it as the trial proceeds. For the current posture of a case in progress, the Dougherty County Superior Court clerk's office is the custodian of the file.