Sunday, January 7, 2023–3:55 p.m.
-John Bailey, Rome News-Tribune-
They’d been at the same Christmas party in 2022, even taken photos together, before things went south and one of the two men died as a result. The other is now headed to prison.
On Friday, Desmion Deaundre Diamond pleaded guilty to the shooting death of Demond Glynn at that party after an argument over a woman.
As part of a plea deal, Diamond pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and firearms charges. Murder charges were dropped as a result of the plea deal. The combined sentence totals to 30 years to serve 15 in prison. The remainder of the sentence will be served on probation.
Members of Glynn’s and Diamond’s families were both present at the hearing, and Glynn’s mother spoke prior to the judge approving the plea deal.
“Not only did he take a son from his mother but he took a brother from his sisters and his brothers. He took a father from his eight kids,” Lanikia Heath said, naming each of the children to Diamond during the hearing. “I hope my son haunts you for the rest of your life. I want you to go to sleep seeing his face. I want you to wake up seeing his face. Demond was my son, he wasn’t a saint. No one is but he did not deserve this.”
They’d been drinking and hanging out when, according to witnesses, Diamond mentioned something about Glynn’s girlfriend. She’d been late to the party, but when she arrived Glynn accused her of messing around with Diamond and verbally and physically attacked her.
She left but he called her again, wanting to ask her more about Diamond. Once he’d gotten off the phone, Glynn had gone back in and confronted Diamond on the dance floor at the civic center. He’d told Diamond to meet him in the bathroom so they “could talk like men,” witnesses said.
“Mr. Glynn and the defendant were only in that bathroom for three minutes. During that time (Diamond) pulled out a gun he’d brought with him to the party and shot Mr. Glynn multiple times,” Assistant District Attorney Leah Mayo told the court.
Glynn never regained consciousness after the shooting and died a month later in January.
Diamond told police that he thought Glynn was armed, but also acknowledged that he had not seen a weapon during the confrontation. However, prosecutors recognized that Glynn was angry and initiated the confrontation. Because of that they opted to offer a plea deal for voluntary manslaughter and avoid a trial, which was set to being on Monday.
“Based on the totality of the circumstances, I believe this is an appropriate resolution,” Floyd County Superior Court Chief Judge John “Jack” Niedrach said. The judge offered condolences to Glynn’s family and stated how disturbing it is to see “needless shootings and how frequently they occur.”
Diamond’s attorney, Zachary Moore, said his client has shown remorse although Diamond didn’t speak to that at the hearing.