Man faces prison for burning home, car of woman who rejected him
By FOX 5 Atlanta Digital Team
Published
(Photo: Cobb County District Attorney s Office)
SMYRNA, Ga. - A Union City man faces 20 years in prison and 10 years probation after he was found guilty of setting fire to a woman s bedroom and car in a jealous rage.
A spokesperson for the Cobb District Attorney s Office said 29-year-old Jerel Jay Wilson committed arson in 2018 incidents separated by a few weeks.
Prosecutors said Wilson first broke into a woman s home after he d been texting her about her new boyfriend and set fire to her bedroom. Several weeks later, prosecutors said Wilson attacked the woman in a hotel parking lot and set her car on fire when he found out she was driving a man to a Smyrna hotel.
Friday night, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation released the name of the man shot and killed by the Cobb Sheriff SWAT team Thursday morning as Johnny Bolton, 49, of Austell.
The GBI also said the narcotics search warrant execution that resulted in Boltonâs death was a no-knock warrant.
The GBIâs presence on the case was requested by the Cobb County Sheriffâs Office early Thursday morning. The incident took place at an apartment complex at 505 Springbrook Trail in Smyrna just before 5 a.m.
The shooting occurred during the execution of a search warrant by agents of the Marietta Cobb Smyrna Organized Crime Task Force and Cobb County Sheriffâs Office SWAT team at that location, the GBI states.
The GBIâs presence was requested by the Cobb County Sheriffâs Department.
The GBI reports a member of the Cobb County Sheriff SWAT team shot and killed an occupant of an apartment on Springbrook Trail at approximately 4:41 a.m. Thursday.
The shooting occurred during the execution of a search warrant by agents of the Marietta Cobb Smyrna Organized Crime Task Force and Cobb County Sheriffâs Office SWAT team at that location, the GBI states.
Police said the individual, whose name has not been released, was transported to Wellstar Cobb Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The Cobb County Medical Examinerâs office will conduct an autopsy.
On Monday, one of the most notorious murder cases in recent Cobb history will be back in the spotlight as Justin Ross Harris begins his quest for a new trial.
Over four years ago, Harris was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder of his 22-month-old son, Cooper Harris. Cooper died after being left in the back seat of his fatherâs car for over seven hours, while his father worked at a Home Depot office on Cumberland Parkway.
Now, Harris and his attorneys will appear at a three-day hearing for a new trial starting Monday. Itâs set to be heard in Cobb Superior Court by Judge Mary Staley Clark, who presided over the initial trial.