Georgia · Augusta, Richmond County · Crime & Courts

Arbrie Anthony Murder Trial in Augusta, GA: What Jurors Heard on Day Two

Testimony continued Wednesday in the Richmond County trial of Antoine Rodrigues Redfield over the January 2022 shooting that killed 8-year-old Arbrie Anthony at Dogwood Terrace in Augusta, WRDW reports. Prosecutors say the shooting grew out of a feud between two groups. That is the state's theory, not a finding, and no jury has returned a verdict.

What jurors heard on Wednesday

WRDW reports that jurors spent Wednesday, Aug. 12, hearing about crimes that the state says set the stage for the violence leading up to Arbrie Anthony's death. The station's opening line reads: “Jurors in the trial over the murder of 8-year-old Arbrie Anthony spent Wednesday hearing about crimes that set the stage for the violence leading up to her death.”

That sentence is worth reading twice, because of what it does not say. It does not say a jury found anything. It does not say the earlier crimes were committed by the man on trial. It says jurors heard about them, which is what happens on a day of testimony in a trial that has not reached a verdict.

Nearly all of Wednesday was the state building a backdrop. WRDW describes a sequence of witnesses called to establish a rented red Jeep, a traffic stop, an earlier shooting on the same street two nights before Arbrie died, the shell casings recovered from it, and the people connected to a second rented vehicle. Not one of those witnesses, in WRDW's account, placed Redfield inside the Jeep.

The defense spent Wednesday on the edges of what each witness could actually say. WRDW puts it plainly: much of the day came down to “the defense emphasizing the gaps in what individual witnesses can say about who actually pulled the trigger or who was in the red Jeep.”

Court recessed for lunch mid-testimony. WRDW reports that jurors did not hear all of witness Kelvin LaBord's testimony Wednesday before the break. The station reports the trial is scheduled to continue with more witnesses on the January 2022 violence.

On trial is not convicted, and this page keeps them apart

Antoine Rodrigues Redfield has not been convicted of anything in this case. A trial in progress has produced no verdict, and every accusation in it is an accusation the state still has to prove to twelve people.

So this page does not narrate the shooting. You will not find a sentence here saying Redfield fired a weapon, rode in a Jeep, attended a meeting or sent a message. What you will find are sentences saying a witness testified to something, or a prosecutor told jurors something, or an indictment charges something. Those are smaller, more accurate claims, and the difference between them and the narrated version is the difference between reporting a trial and pre-empting it.

The state's own framing makes the distinction unavoidable. WRDW's Aug. 12 story reports: “Prosecutors say the shooting was part of a gang feud and that Redfield was involved, even if they can't say who pulled the trigger.” That is a theory the state has told jurors it intends to prove. It is not a finding, and a reader is entitled to see it labelled as what it is every single time it appears.

The defense position is equally on the record. WRDW reports that Redfield's attorney argues the state is trying to connect him through association rather than hard proof, and that defense attorney Lucy Jackson Bell told jurors the evidence will show there are no fingerprints or other direct physical evidence tying him to the red Jeep. The Augusta Press reports the same: that Bell has told jurors there are no fingerprints or other physical evidence tying Redfield to the vehicle.

Where a source hedges, the hedge stays. When The Augusta Press writes that Thomas “reportedly” pleaded guilty, this page carries the “reportedly.” When WRDW writes that a witness “believed” something could be a muzzle flash, this page does not upgrade it to a fact.

Arbrie Anthony, and what this page will not publish

Arbrie Anthony was 8 years old. WRDW reports she was shot and killed on Jan. 8, 2022 while petting a horse outside Dogwood Terrace, a public housing complex in Augusta, and that investigators have said they do not believe she was the intended target. The Augusta Press reports she had been outside with family and neighbors and was not believed to be the intended target.

Her name is on this page because she is the reason the case is public, and because two named newsrooms have published it continuously for four and a half years. Withholding it now would not protect anyone; it would just make the page harder to find for the people searching for it.

What is not on this page is everything else. WRDW has published detail about her wounds, about the testimony of the medical and coroner witnesses, and about what her father described in the yard; The Augusta Press reports where she was struck. This page publishes none of it. There is no need for a reader to carry those details to understand what a Richmond County jury is being asked to decide, and a child does not stop being a child because her death became a court file.

There is also no photograph here. No scene picture, no booking image, no school photo, no map and no coordinates. The Local Alert does not republish news photographs, and this page is no exception.

What each side told jurors in opening statements

Opening statements were delivered Tuesday, Aug. 11, according to WRDW's story from that day. Everything in this section is a lawyer talking, which is the least binding thing that happens at a trial. It is included because it is the clearest available statement of what each side says the case is about.

The state's account, per WRDW. Assistant District Attorney Kevin Davis told jurors Arbrie was outside with family and neighbors around a fire that Saturday evening, with adults talking while children played, and that she had gone a few houses down to play on a tire swing before her father called her back to see a pair of horses brought into the neighborhood for children to pet. Less than two minutes later, Davis said, a red Jeep sped toward the yard and gunshots rang out.

Davis described the case as growing out of a feud. WRDW reports he told jurors the drive-by was part of a long-running conflict between two groups, which the station renders as BDAB, or Bold Drive Alley Boys, associated with the Southside, and LOE, or Loyalty Over Everything. WRDW reports Davis described the feud as a “war.”

Davis also told jurors the state does not have to identify the shooter. WRDW reports he told jurors prosecutors do not have to prove Redfield fired the fatal shot if they can prove he was a willing participant in the crime. That is a statement about a legal theory. Whether the state can prove it is the entire question in front of the jury.

The defense account, per WRDW. Defense attorney Lucy Jackson Bell urged jurors not to let the horror of a child's death stand in for proof that Redfield is responsible. WRDW reports she acknowledged a crime happened and an 8-year-old girl died, but said the real issue is whether the state can prove her client was involved, and that jurors will hear a great deal about who Redfield knows and about his past without hearing proof of participation.

Bell compared the state's theory to fiction. WRDW reports she likened it to writing a novel, taking pieces from his life and “weaving” them together into a narrative, and told jurors that what is left is “lies and suspicion,” not proof beyond a reasonable doubt. She asked jurors to put emotion aside and focus on what the evidence shows.

What an opening statement is not

This section is general background on Georgia trial procedure. It is not a description of any ruling in this case.

An opening statement is not evidence. It is a preview, offered by a lawyer, of what that side expects the evidence to show. Nobody is sworn during one. Nothing said in one can be cross-examined. A jury cannot convict or acquit on the strength of it, and Georgia judges instruct jurors on that point directly.

An opening statement is not a promise the court enforces. A prosecutor who tells jurors they will hear about text messages has told them what the state hopes to introduce. Whether those messages are admitted, what they actually say, and what a witness can testify they mean are all separate questions decided later, sometimes after argument the jury never hears.

An opening statement is not a summary of the indictment either. Lawyers on both sides choose what to preview. A count in the indictment may never be mentioned in an opening, and a theme hammered in an opening may not map onto any specific count.

What actually counts as evidence is sworn testimony, exhibits admitted by the court, stipulations the parties agree to, and reasonable inferences a jury draws from those. Arguments, questions asked by lawyers, and anything the judge strikes are not in that list.

This matters for how you read the paragraphs above. Everything in the openings section is a claim about what a jury will be shown. Some of it will be. Some of it may not be. A reader who treats an opening statement as a factual account of a crime has been misled, and not by the lawyers.

The red Jeep, and the question the state calls central

Both outlets describe the red Jeep as the center of the state's case. The Augusta Press reports that surveillance video from Dogwood Terrace shows the vehicle arriving and circling the complex for several minutes before speeding toward the area where families had gathered, and that gunfire followed. WRDW's Aug. 11 story reports that Davis said the video shows a red Jeep appear around 7:13 p.m. and drive through the complex for about 10 minutes before speeding toward the yard.

Both outlets also report the limit of that video, in nearly identical terms. The Augusta Press: “But the video does not show who was inside the Jeep, and that is expected to be one of the central questions for jurors. Prosecutors acknowledged this week that they cannot say from the video whether Redfield was driving, riding in the passenger seat or sitting in the back.” WRDW reports the same acknowledgment from Davis and reports he told jurors that the question of who was in the Jeep will be central to the trial.

The Augusta Press lists what prosecutors say they will use to close that gap: cellphone records, text messages, rental records, and a letter they say Redfield wrote from jail. WRDW's Aug. 11 story similarly reports that prosecutors say they will rely on a set of evidence to connect Redfield to the vehicle and to both shootings. None of that had been established in front of the jury as of the testimony described here.

Wednesday's Jeep testimony did not close the gap either. WRDW reports that Albany Police Department crime scene investigator Bryant Pascoe processed a red Jeep in Albany in January 2022 at the request of Richmond County investigators, that the Jeep was a rental already being driven by a new renter, and that he found a cigarette lighter under the front passenger seat but could not lift usable fingerprints from it.

Wednesday's witnesses, one at a time

Everything below is WRDW's account of sworn testimony. None of it is a finding, and where the station reports a limit on what a witness could say, that limit is reported here too.

• Bryant Pascoe, Albany Police Department crime scene investigator. Testified the Jeep was a rental, photographed it, described a Florida license plate and a dark stripe on the hood, and said the interior appeared “fairly clean.” He collected samples from areas including the driver's seat and headrest for gunshot residue testing and sent them to Richmond County. On cross-examination, WRDW reports, he acknowledged he did not work on the broader Arbrie Anthony investigation, did not know Redfield, had no information about how many people had been in the Jeep or who used it before it reached Albany, and did not know whether the vehicle had been cleaned between rentals. WRDW reports his testimony did not establish whose latent prints were recovered, and that there was no redirect questioning
• Sgt. Randall Amos, Richmond County Sheriff's Office. Testified about a traffic stop on Jan. 5, 2022 involving a red Toyota Corolla and Antionous “Kick Doe” Thomas, a man WRDW reports prosecutors have previously linked to the LOE group. Amos said he saw two vehicles speeding on Gordon Highway, later spotted a red Corolla at a gas station and followed it through the Dogwood Terrace area, and that based on how it was driving and his knowledge of earlier shootings he believed a drive-by might be about to happen. WRDW reports body-camera video from the stop was shown, that Thomas acknowledged he did not have a valid driver's license, and that Amos testified the car was towed because of traffic issues rather than being held as evidence. The defense did not cross-examine him
• A young man who testified he was 16 at the time. WRDW reports he was living in Dogwood Terrace on Jan. 6, 2022 and was shot while walking to a store on Third Avenue, that he heard gunfire and realized he had been hit. He was a minor when he was wounded and is not named on this page
• Investigator Courtland Harris, Richmond County Sheriff's Office. Responded to that Jan. 6 shooting, in which two people were wounded. WRDW reports he testified investigators obtained surveillance video from the Augusta Housing Authority, that portions were played in court, that investigators were searching for a silver SUV and struggled to determine its make and model, and that a screenshot was released in a “be on the lookout” bulletin. WRDW reports he pointed out what he believed could be a muzzle flash or a ricochet, that the footage did not allow investigators to definitively identify the two people wounded, that the shooting victim he spoke with could not tell him who fired, and that no arrest was made during the portion of the investigation he handled
• Sgt. Tyler Steerman, Richmond County Sheriff's Office homicide investigator in January 2022. WRDW reports he responded to the Jan. 6 scene, found spent shell casings in the roadway, placed 12 evidence markers, one for each casing, and testified the casings included both 9mm and .45-caliber rounds, indicating more than one caliber among the shots fired
• A woman identified in court as Ms. Tolbert. WRDW reports she testified she is the mother of Michael Tolbert, knows Michael Freeman as her son's friend, and rented a silver Mazda in January 2022, establishing herself as the renter of the vehicle prosecutors believe was used in the Jan. 6 shooting
• Kelvin LaBord. WRDW reports he was called later in the day and was arrested along with three others in December 2021 after an incident at an Augusta bar that had previously been the scene of multiple shootings. Jurors did not hear all of his testimony before court recessed for lunch

The January 6 shooting on the same street

A large share of Wednesday was about a different shooting. WRDW reports that on Jan. 6, 2022, two nights before Arbrie was killed, gunfire on Third Avenue wounded two people, and that the street was the same one where Arbrie lived. WRDW's Aug. 11 story reports Davis told jurors that shooting happened shortly after 7 p.m. and wounded two teenagers.

Neither person wounded on Jan. 6 is named on this page. WRDW names both. One testified he was 16 at the time; the station's account refers to the pair as teens. Where minors are involved, this site declines to add its own page to the searchable record, and nothing about that decision changes what the state has to prove.

Why the state is spending trial time on it. WRDW reports that prosecutors are working to build a timeline of shootings, traffic stops and rented vehicles leading up to the drive-by that killed Arbrie, and its Aug. 11 story reports Davis told jurors the state believes the shooting that killed Arbrie followed the same general plan and happened around the same time of evening. That is the state's argument. It is not a ruling that the two events are connected.

What the Jan. 6 testimony did not do. In WRDW's account, the investigator who handled that scene testified that the surveillance footage did not allow him to definitively identify the people who were wounded, that the victim he spoke with could not tell him who fired, and that he made no arrest before the case was turned over at the homicide unit's request.

Shell casings, and what casings can and cannot show

WRDW reports Sgt. Steerman explained to jurors why casings matter: investigators may later compare casings from different scenes to see whether the same gun was used, or match them to a firearm recovered later. He testified he placed 12 evidence markers, one for each casing found, and that the casings included both 9mm and .45-caliber rounds.

Two calibers at one scene is a fact about ammunition, not a headcount. It indicates more than one caliber was represented among the shots fired, which is exactly how WRDW frames it. It does not establish how many weapons were present, how many people fired, or who any of them were, and nothing in the record compiled for this page says a firearm was matched to those casings.

A recovered casing also does not place a person anywhere. It places ammunition. Connecting a casing to a person requires a separate chain of proof, and in WRDW's account of Wednesday no witness supplied one.

Antionous Thomas reportedly pleaded guilty, and what that does not prove

The Augusta Press reports that Antionous Thomas has reportedly pleaded guilty to criminal gang activity in the case, that he is expected to testify during Redfield's trial, and that he will be sentenced after the trial concludes. The same story reports he was brought from prison, where he is already serving a 20-year arson sentence related to a fire he started in the Charles B. Webster Detention Center while awaiting trial.

State his plea accurately and stop there. A plea is a resolution of the charges against the person who entered it. It is a fact about Thomas. It is not evidence about Redfield, it is not a finding that any particular group exists or that any particular event happened, and it does not shift one inch of the burden the state carries at this trial.

A witness testifying with a pending sentencing is a witness with an interest. That is not an accusation against anyone; it is the ordinary reason defense lawyers cross-examine cooperating witnesses about what they expect, and juries are instructed to consider it. The record compiled for this page does not say what, if anything, Thomas has been promised.

WRDW's Wednesday account describes Thomas as a subject of testimony, not as a witness yet. Sgt. Amos testified about a Jan. 5, 2022 traffic stop involving Thomas, and WRDW reports prosecutors have previously linked Thomas to the LOE group. Whether he takes the stand, and what he says if he does, is not in anything cited here.

The gang allegation is a count, not a description

Nobody is called a gang member in this page's own voice. The Augusta Press reports that the indictment includes violations of Georgia's street gang act. That is a charge. A charge is the state's assertion, filed on paper, that it can prove something to a jury.

The two groups named in the coverage are named by the sources, not by this page. The Augusta Press reports prosecutors say the shooting was part of a feud involving LOE, or Loyalty Over Everything, and another group known as BDAB, and that they contend a confrontation involving Thomas days before Arbrie's death sparked plans for retaliation. WRDW renders the second group as BDAB, or Bold Drive Alley Boys, in its Aug. 11 story and as Southside/Bolt Drive Alley Boys in its Aug. 12 story. The same outlet spelled it two ways across two days, and this page does not pick one.

Expert testimony about gangs is testimony. WRDW's Aug. 11 story reports the state called Adam Green, now with the Georgia Attorney General's Office and formerly with the Richmond County Sheriff's Office, as an expert in criminal street gang activity, and that his testimony remained largely background as of the afternoon break. An expert explaining how investigators classify groups is not a jury finding that any defendant belongs to one.

The legal test is narrower than the word. Under O.C.G.A. § 16-15-4, 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 statute. The short title of that chapter, at O.C.G.A. § 16-15-1, is the “Georgia Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act.” The Augusta Press renders it as the Street Gang Terrorism Prevention Act.

The horses, and the animal cruelty count

The Augusta Press reports that Arbrie had been outside to pet horses and that “one of the horses also was killed in the shooting.” That statement appears in The Augusta Press in the record compiled for this page.

WRDW's Aug. 11 story says something adjacent but different: that surveillance video shows people ducking and one of the horses bolting as shots are fired. A horse bolting and a horse being killed are two different statements, and this page does not merge them into one.

The Augusta Press reports the indictment includes an animal cruelty count. Georgia's animal cruelty statute is O.C.G.A. § 16-12-4, and the aggravated form of the offense covers maliciously causing the death of an animal. Whether that count is the one charged here, and against whom, does not appear in the record compiled for this page.

The 2019 nightclub case the state raised

WRDW's Aug. 11 story reports the state used its opening to reach back to December 2019. According to that account, Davis traced Redfield's alleged role back to a nightclub shooting on Thomas Lane in which two men died, and told jurors surveillance video from that scene shows Redfield running behind a vehicle and firing uphill at another man who was also shooting.

The critical fact about that older case is how it ended. WRDW reports that witness reluctance meant those earlier cases were dismissed, and that Redfield was released from the Richmond County Jail in November 2021. Dismissed cases produced no conviction, and a dismissed case is not proof of anything at a later trial.

Two witnesses testified about that scene on Aug. 11, per WRDW. Lucas Grant, a homicide investigator in December 2019, testified he recovered surveillance video from the nightclub and walked jurors through it. Lauren Gill Weber, a senior crime scene technician with the sheriff's office, testified she processed the scene and that investigators recovered five 9mm shell casings and 12 .40-caliber casings along with two intact projectiles and one fragment.

Why a reader should hold this loosely. Evidence of a defendant's other alleged acts is among the most contested material in any criminal trial, and what a jury is permitted to do with it is governed by instructions this page has not seen. Nothing in the record compiled here says how the jury in this trial was told to treat it.

How many people were charged: the accounts do not match

This is the sharpest conflict between the two accounts, and it is not resolved here.

The Augusta Press reports five. Its story says five people have been indicted in connection with Arbrie's death, including Redfield, Kendariss Brown, Henri Beach, Antionous Thomas and Michael Tolbert.

WRDW's Aug. 11 story describes eight. It reports that, according to the District Attorney's Office, five other defendants in the case have pleaded guilty and two more had their charges dismissed, leaving only Redfield on trial. Five plus two plus Redfield is eight people.

There are ordinary explanations, and this page will not pick one. Separate indictments, superseding indictments, severed cases and charges filed at different times all produce exactly this kind of mismatch. But an explanation that is plausible is still an explanation nobody in the record has given, so both numbers are published, attributed, and left standing side by side.

Where our sources differ

Three published accounts sit behind this page: WRDW's Aug. 12 story on Wednesday's testimony, WRDW's Aug. 11 story on the start of the trial, and The Augusta Press's Aug. 12 story. Nothing below is averaged, merged or resolved. Where an account does not carry a point, the table says so rather than implying agreement.

One check done deliberately. Neither outlet publishes an age for Antoine Rodrigues Redfield in the material compiled for this page, so no age appears anywhere on it. Supplying one from another database would be inventing a fact about a man on trial, which is precisely the kind of small confident error that is impossible to walk back.

How independent these sources actually are

Two owners stand behind this page, which is better than one and is not the same as a courtroom transcript.

WRDW is an Augusta television station owned by Gray Media. On this site a broadcast group counts once, by owner rather than by call letters, because stations under one roof running one script are one newsroom's work wearing several names. Two WRDW stories are cited here and they add up to one newsroom. Both carry the byline Sydney Hood.

The Augusta Press is a separately owned Augusta news organization. Its Aug. 12 story is bylined Greg Rickabaugh. It is the second, genuinely independent account, and it is the only source here for several facts, which is why those facts are attributed to it by name every time they appear.

Neither account is a transcript. Everything attributed to a witness on this page is attributed to a newsroom's description of what a witness said in a courtroom The Local Alert was not in. This site has not obtained the indictment, the docket or any filing in the case, and does not claim to know a single thing that is not in the two outlets cited.

What a Georgia jury trial actually decides

This section is general background on Georgia procedure. It is not a description of any ruling in this case.

A jury answers one question per count: has the state proved this count beyond a reasonable doubt? Not whether the defendant is a good person. Not whether the investigation was thorough. Not what really happened on a night nobody can replay. Just whether the proof offered in that courtroom clears the highest standard the law uses.

The verdict is count by count, and twelve jurors must agree. A Georgia felony jury is twelve people, and a verdict has to be unanimous. That means a jury can convict on some counts and acquit on others in the same case, and it means a single juror who is not persuaded prevents a verdict on that count.

“Not guilty” is a statement about proof. It is not a declaration that the events did not happen and it is not a finding of innocence. It means the state did not carry its burden on that count in front of those jurors. A mistrial, where jurors cannot agree, is not a verdict at all and generally leaves the state free to try the case again.

The burden never moves. A defendant does not have to testify, does not have to call a witness, and does not have to explain anything. If the defense puts on no case at all, the question in front of the jury is unchanged.

A jury does not sentence. In a Georgia felony case the judge imposes the sentence, within ranges the legislature set, after any verdict of guilty. A jury that convicts has not decided how long anyone serves.

Jurors decide only on what was admitted. Evidence excluded by the judge, arguments struck from the record, and anything a juror might read outside the courtroom are all off limits, which is a large part of why a news page like this one takes care to label argument as argument.

The Georgia statutes behind these charges

Statute text below is general legal background, not a statement that any specific count has been proved. The Augusta Press's description of the group indictment is the source for which offense families are involved.

• O.C.G.A. § 16-5-1 — Murder. Subsection (a) provides that a person commits the offense of murder when he unlawfully and with malice aforethought, either express or implied, causes the death of another human being. Georgia's felony murder theory sits in the same section, covering a death caused in the commission of a felony irrespective of malice
• O.C.G.A. § 16-15-4 — Criminal gang activity. Subsection (a) makes it 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 statute. The chapter's short title, at § 16-15-1, is the “Georgia Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act”
• O.C.G.A. § 16-5-70 — Cruelty to children. Subsection (b) provides that any person commits the offense of cruelty to children in the first degree when such person maliciously causes a child under the age of 18 cruel or excessive physical or mental pain
• O.C.G.A. § 16-5-21 — Aggravated assault. Subsection (a) covers assault with a deadly weapon or with an object likely to result in serious bodily injury, and separately covers discharging a firearm from within a motor vehicle toward a person or persons without legal justification
• O.C.G.A. § 16-12-4 — Cruelty to animals. The aggravated form of the offense covers maliciously causing the death of an animal, and carries imprisonment of not less than one nor more than five years, a fine not to exceed $15,000.00, or both

A count is not a conviction, and this list is not the indictment. The record compiled for this page does not contain a count-by-count breakdown of what Antoine Rodrigues Redfield individually faces, and this page does not construct one.

Who investigates and who prosecutes

The Richmond County Sheriff's Office investigated. WRDW's account of Wednesday describes testimony from Sgt. Randall Amos, Investigator Courtland Harris and Sgt. Tyler Steerman, all of the Richmond County Sheriff's Office, and describes the sheriff's office homicide unit taking the Jan. 6 case over.

An outside agency did a piece of the forensic work. WRDW reports that Albany Police Department crime scene investigator Bryant Pascoe processed the red Jeep in Albany at the request of Richmond County investigators, and that samples were sent back to Richmond County for analysis. Agencies are not interchangeable, and this one appears in the case only for that task.

Felonies in Richmond County are prosecuted by the District Attorney's Office for the Augusta Judicial Circuit. The Augusta, Georgia government website identifies District Attorney Jared Williams and states that he took office on January 1, 2021. Both outlets name Assistant District Attorney Kevin Davis as the prosecutor trying this case.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is not named as an investigating agency in the material compiled for this page. WRDW's Aug. 11 story mentions the GBI crime lab only in connection with the 2019 nightclub case.

How to get the court record in Richmond County

Court files and police files are two different requests, made to two different offices. People conflate them constantly and then wonder why the answer takes months.

The court file. Richmond County felony cases sit with the Clerk of Superior, State and Juvenile Court, listed by the Augusta, Georgia government website at 735 James Brown Blvd., Suite 1500, Augusta, GA 30901, phone (706) 821-2460. The indictment, the docket and most filed motions in a case being tried in open court are generally available for inspection. Bring the defendant's full name and, if you have it, the case number, because a common name will return the wrong file.

The investigative file. That request goes to the Richmond County Sheriff's Office 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 produce responsive records within a reasonable amount of time not to exceed three business days, and where responsive records exist but are not available within that window, the agency must provide a description of such records and a timeline for their delivery.

Expect a denial or heavy redaction while a prosecution is pending. Under subsection (d) of that statute, when an agency withholds all or part of a requested record it must notify the requester of the specific legal authority exempting the record. If you are told no, ask which exemption, in writing.

Copies are cheap by law. The statute caps the charge for copying at ten cents per page for letter or legal size documents, plus in the case of other documents, the actual cost of producing the copy. An agency must also give an estimate before running up a bill.

Trials are public. The plainest way to know what a witness said is to sit in the courtroom, which is open to anyone, subject to whatever the presiding judge orders about phones, recording and seating.

Victim resources in Georgia

This section is general information for readers, not a statement about anyone in this case.

• The Georgia Crime Victims Compensation Program, administered by the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, states that the maximum program award is $25,000 per victim, per victimization, with sub-caps including up to $15,000 for medical expenses, up to $6,000 for funeral expenses, up to $3,000 for counseling and up to $10,000 for lost wages
• There are two hard requirements. The program states that the crime must have been reported to the proper authorities within 72 hours, unless good cause is shown, and that for crimes on or after July 1, 2014 a claim must be filed within three years of the crime or of the victim's death. A person who was a minor at the time of the victimization may file until three years after his or her eighteenth birthday
• A victim advocate is free. Georgia district attorneys' offices staff victim-witness programs that explain court dates, accompany families to hearings and handle notification. For a Richmond County case, that office is the District Attorney's Office for the Augusta Judicial Circuit
• Georgia's Marsy's Law rights include being treated with dignity, being notified of proceedings and being heard at certain hearings. Those rights are not automatic in practice; they generally have to be requested, which is what a victim advocate is for
• Counseling for children who witness violence is a separate track from anything a court provides, and community mental health providers in Richmond County can be reached without going through the criminal case at all

What we don't know yet

• The verdict. The trial was in progress. Nothing on this page says how it came out, because nothing in the sources does
• The count-by-count indictment against Antoine Rodrigues Redfield individually. The Augusta Press describes the offenses charged against the indicted group. Neither source, in the material compiled here, itemizes Redfield's own counts
• Redfield's age. Not in either account compiled for this page, and not supplied here from anywhere else
• How many people were charged in total, given that one account describes five indicted and the other describes eight people across pleas, dismissals and this trial
• Whether Antionous Thomas testified, what he said if he did, and what his own sentencing exposure is
• What the gunshot residue samples showed. WRDW reports samples were collected and sent to Richmond County. No result appears in the record compiled for this page
• Whose latent fingerprints were recovered from the Jeep. WRDW reports the witness confirmed some were recovered and that his testimony did not establish whose they were
• Whether any firearm was matched to the casings recovered from the Jan. 6 scene
• What the letter prosecutors describe actually says, or whether it has been admitted into evidence
• How the trial court instructed the jury on the 2019 nightclub material, on party-to-a-crime liability, or on anything else
• The exact calendar date the trial began, as distinct from the Tuesday openings described by WRDW and the “this week” of The Augusta Press

This page is a record of what two named newsrooms had published as of the time stamped on it. It is not updated as the trial proceeds, and it makes no promise to revisit any of the questions above.

If you are following this trial

• The courtroom is open. A Superior Court trial in Richmond County is a public proceeding, and the gallery is the only place anyone sees the evidence rather than a description of it
• Watch the verb. “Testified,” “prosecutors say” and “the indictment charges” are three different strengths of claim, and a story that drops them has told you less than it appears to
• An opening statement is not the case. What a lawyer previews on day one is not what a jury necessarily hears on day nine
• Be careful what you repeat about people who are not on trial. Several people named in the coverage face no charge at all in this case, and a name attached to the wrong sentence online does real damage to a real person
• The Local Alert is not a law enforcement agency and cannot take information about this case. The Richmond County Sheriff's Office is the agency that investigated it

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Frequently asked questions

Who is on trial in the Arbrie Anthony case?
Antoine Rodrigues Redfield. WRDW describes him as the only defendant still facing trial and reports that he is accused of taking part in the Jan. 8, 2022 drive-by shooting at the Dogwood Terrace public housing complex in Augusta. The Augusta Press reports that the trial began this week before Judge Ashley Wright, that Assistant District Attorney Kevin Davis is prosecuting and that attorney Lucy Jackson Bell is representing Redfield. Redfield is on trial, which means he has not been convicted of anything in this case and is presumed innocent.

Has Antoine Redfield been convicted of anything in this case?
No. A trial that is in progress has produced no verdict. Everything described on this page is an accusation, an opening statement or sworn testimony that a jury has not yet weighed. No sentence has been imposed, no finding of guilt has been returned, and nothing on this page says that Redfield shot anyone.

What happened in court on August 12, 2026?
WRDW reports that jurors spent Wednesday hearing about crimes the state says set the stage for the violence leading up to Arbrie Anthony's death. The station describes testimony from an Albany Police Department crime scene investigator who processed a red Jeep, from Richmond County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Randall Amos about a Jan. 5, 2022 traffic stop, from a young man who testified he was 16 and was shot in the neighborhood on Jan. 6, from Investigator Courtland Harris about that shooting, from Sgt. Tyler Steerman about shell casings recovered at it, from a woman identified in court as Ms. Tolbert about a rented silver Mazda, and from witness Kelvin LaBord, whose testimony was not finished when court recessed for lunch.

When did the trial actually start?
August 12 was a testimony day, not opening day. WRDW published a story on Aug. 11, 2026 headlined “From gang feud to child's death: Trial begins in Arbrie Anthony case,” which describes opening statements delivered Tuesday and the state's first witnesses. WRDW's Aug. 12 story then describes what jurors heard Wednesday. The Augusta Press, in a story published Aug. 12, says only that “the trial began this week.” This page publishes both descriptions and does not convert either into a precise start date of its own.

How old was Arbrie Anthony, and what does this page publish about her death?
She was 8. WRDW reports she was shot and killed on Jan. 8, 2022 while petting a horse outside Dogwood Terrace, and that investigators have said they do not believe she was the intended target. WRDW has published clinical detail about her injuries and about the moments after she was hit, and The Augusta Press reports where she was struck. This page publishes none of it. Her name is here because she is the reason this case is public. The rest is not this page's to circulate.

What is Antoine Redfield charged with?
The Augusta Press reports that five people were indicted in connection with Arbrie's death and that prosecutors charged the group with a sweeping list of offenses “including murder, aggravated assault, child cruelty, weapons violations, animal cruelty and violations of Georgia's Street Gang Terrorism Prevention Act.” That is a description of the indictment against the group, not a count-by-count list of what Redfield alone faces, and no count-by-count list for Redfield appears in the record compiled for this page. A charge is an allegation the state has to prove.

What did prosecutors say about who fired the shots?
WRDW's Aug. 12 story puts it this way: “Prosecutors say the shooting was part of a gang feud and that Redfield was involved, even if they can't say who pulled the trigger.” WRDW's Aug. 11 story reports that Assistant District Attorney Kevin Davis told jurors prosecutors do not have to prove Redfield fired the fatal shot if they can prove he was a willing participant in the crime, and that Davis acknowledged investigators cannot say from the surveillance video whether Redfield was driving, in the passenger seat or in the back. That is the state's theory of the case. It is not a finding, and this page does not state in its own voice that Redfield shot anyone or was in the Jeep.

Is Antoine Redfield a gang member?
This page does not say he is, and a gang count in an indictment is an allegation rather than a description. The Augusta Press reports that the indictment includes violations of Georgia's street gang statute. WRDW reports that prosecutors describe a conflict between two groups and that the state called a gang expert to give jurors background. Georgia's gang law, O.C.G.A. § 16-15-4, makes it unlawful for a person employed by or associated with a criminal street gang to conduct or participate in criminal gang activity through an enumerated offense. The state has to prove that to a jury, and a jury has not returned a verdict.

Who is Antionous Thomas and what did he plead guilty to?
The Augusta Press reports that Antionous Thomas has reportedly pleaded guilty to criminal gang activity in the case, that he is expected to testify during Redfield's trial and that he will be sentenced after the trial concludes. The same story reports that he was brought from prison, where he is already serving a 20-year arson sentence related to a fire he started in the Charles B. Webster Detention Center while awaiting trial. WRDW identifies him as Antionous “Kick Doe” Thomas. One person's guilty plea is evidence about that person. It is not evidence about Redfield, and this page does not use it as any.

How many people were charged in Arbrie Anthony's death?
The two accounts do not match and this page does not reconcile them. The Augusta Press reports that five people were indicted, and names them as Redfield, Kendariss Brown, Henri Beach, Antionous Thomas and Michael Tolbert. WRDW's Aug. 11 story reports that, according to the District Attorney's Office, five other defendants have pleaded guilty and two more had their charges dismissed, leaving only Redfield on trial, which describes eight people rather than five. Both versions are published here, attributed, and neither is averaged into the other.

Was an animal killed in the shooting?
The Augusta Press reports that Arbrie had been outside to pet horses and that “one of the horses also was killed in the shooting.” That detail is carried by The Augusta Press in the record compiled for this page. WRDW's Aug. 11 story reports that surveillance video shows one of the horses bolting as shots are fired, which is not the same statement. The Augusta Press also reports that the indictment includes an animal cruelty count.

What is an opening statement, and is it evidence?
It is not evidence, and that is not a technicality. An opening statement is a lawyer's preview of what that side expects the evidence to show. Nobody is under oath during one, nothing said in one can be cross-examined, and a promise made in an opening statement is not proof that the promise was kept. Georgia trial judges instruct jurors on exactly this point. When this page describes what Assistant District Attorney Kevin Davis told jurors or what defense attorney Lucy Jackson Bell told jurors, it is describing argument, not established fact.

What does a Georgia jury actually decide?
One question, count by count: whether the state has proved that specific count beyond a reasonable doubt. Twelve jurors must agree, and the verdict is guilty or not guilty on each count separately, so a jury can convict on some counts and acquit on others. A jury does not decide whether the investigation was thorough, whether the defendant is a good person, or what the sentence should be, because sentencing in a Georgia felony case is the judge's job. “Not guilty” is a verdict about proof, not a declaration of innocence, and the burden never shifts to the defense.

Who is the judge and who is prosecuting?
The Augusta Press reports that the trial began before Judge Ashley Wright, that Assistant District Attorney Kevin Davis is prosecuting and that attorney Lucy Jackson Bell is representing Redfield. WRDW's Aug. 11 story also names Davis as the prosecutor delivering opening statements and Bell as the defense attorney. Felonies in Richmond County are prosecuted by the District Attorney's Office for the Augusta Judicial Circuit, whose website identifies District Attorney Jared Williams and says he took office on January 1, 2021.

How do I get the court file in Richmond County?
Criminal case files for Richmond County felonies sit with the Clerk of Superior, State and Juvenile Court, which the Augusta, Georgia government website lists at 735 James Brown Blvd., Suite 1500, Augusta, GA 30901, phone (706) 821-2460. Indictments, the docket and most filed motions in a case being tried in open court are generally available for inspection. Law enforcement investigative files are a different request, made to the Richmond County Sheriff's Office under the Georgia Open Records Act, and are commonly withheld or redacted while a prosecution is pending. Bring the defendant's full name and, if you have it, the case number.

How many independent newsrooms stand behind this page?
Two owners. WRDW is an Augusta television station owned by Gray Media, and this site counts a broadcast group once by owner rather than by call letters, so both WRDW stories cited here are one newsroom. The Augusta Press is a separate, independently owned Augusta news organization, and its Aug. 12 story by Greg Rickabaugh is the second account. The Local Alert has not obtained a transcript, an indictment or a court file in this case, and nothing on this page comes from a reporter in that courtroom.