Not Guilty Of Capital Murder

That is the verdict a Cherokee County Jury handed down Monday afternoon for Devin Lashawn Watts, 40 of Rome. Watts was charged in the double murder case of two Rome sisters who were driven to Alabama from Rome and killed in Alabama with their bodies being dumped off a bridge in Rome. The bodies of 19 year old Vanita Richardson and 30 year old Clarice Truvenia Campbell were discovered in the early morning hours of May 13, 2020.

Watts was one of 3 charged with Capital Murder in the case. Desmond Lavonta Brown of Rome and Christopher Leedarius Pullen of Rome were also charge with Capital Murder. Brown was found guilty of capital murder by a Cherokee County Jury in November 2023 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Pullen remains lodged in the Cherokee County Detention Center awaiting trial on the charge.

District Attorney Summer Summerford told WEIS Radio News, Watts faces a list of charges in Georgia with this case and will remain lodged in the Cherokee County Detention until he is extradited to Georgia to face those charges.

This case was tried in the Courtroom Of Circuit Judge Jeremy Taylor with the proceedings taking more than a week.