A former Georgia police officer was indicted this week after he failed to disclose that his half brother was a suspect in a murder he was investigating.
The Spalding County grand jury accused D’Marquivius “D.J.” King, 25, on one felony count of violation of oath by a public officer, WXIA reported.
King was assigned to investigate the murder of Javarreis Reid on May 9, 2021, but failed note in his documentation that Damon Beck was a suspect.
The indictment says that King failed “to document in any reports prepared in connection with the investigation that Damon Beck was a suspect in said murder and did further fail to diligently and timely pursue the investigation of said murder and Damon Beck’s involvement.”
King received a written reprimand in November 2021 that said he had “failed to notify his chain of command of the conflict of interest and did not list Damon Beck as a suspect on any documentation.”
The following year, in July 2022, three arrest warrants were issued for Reid’s murder: Beck, Isaiah Trice, and Shantavia Godfrey, The Grip reported. Godfrey was arrested in September of that year, the Griffin Daily News reported. Beck was arrested in February 2023, and Trice is still at large.
King lost his job last fall after the Georgia Bureau of Investigation conducted an investigation and notified Spalding County District Attorney Marie Broder of the results. Griffin City Manager Jessica O’Connor said King was put on administrative leave “as soon as I learned of the the GBI investigation.”
“Broder issued a letter stating the investigation revealed ‘egregious’ policy violations requiring her to disallow any further testimony by Kin in any court of law in the Griffin Judicial Court,” O’Connor said. When she held a meeting with King to discuss that information, he resigned.
At the same time, the GBI looked into the actions, or lack of actions, by then Griffin Police Chief Mike Yates, who was placed on “non-disciplinary, administrative leave” and ultimately allowed to resign his position in October 2023.
“These violations are egregious enough to have destroyed my Office’s confidence in both Officer King and Chief Yates to effectively perform their duties,” Broder said in her letter to the city manager.
Yates told WXIA that he investigated King’s actions and found nothing more than “poor documentation of his casework.” Yates denied any wrongdoing on his part and said in his resignation letter — issued the day he was placed on leave — that the resignation was “contingent upon” his departure being noted as solely retirement.
“I am not voluntarily resigning, resigning while under investigation, resigning in lieu of termination or under any other circumstance other than my retirement,” he wrote.
Yates has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
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[Featured image: Former Griffin Police Chief Mike Yates and former Officer DJ King/Griffin Police Department]
