Clayton News Daily

By Kathy Jefcoats

kjefcoats@news-daily.com

JONESBORO — A Clayton County jury has found Latoris Grovner guilty on voluntary manslaughter, five counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, three counts of aggravated battery and one count of tampering with evidence.

He was found not guilty on one count of felony murder.

The jury began deliberating at 9 a.m.

They let Superior Court Judge Matthew Simmons know about 10:30 a.m. they had a question about the charges. Simmons said jurors wanted a printed copy of all the charges and their definitions. Simmons told jurors it would take about 45 minutes to provide that information in written form so he read the charges and definitions out loud.

Afterward, jurors returned to resume deliberations.

Jurors heard testimony in the case starting Tuesday and both state and defense rested Thursday afternoon.

Public defender David White argued that Grovner, who admitted beating Alena Marble, did so out of "irresistible passion" and has pleaded for a conviction on voluntary manslaughter.

Assistant District Attorney Katie Powers, however, said Grovner was greedy and lazy and killed Marble purely for financial gain.

Marble's daughter, Kajul Harvey, was four months pregnant with Grovner's baby at the time of the killing, said White. He said the couple just wanted to be together and raise their child as a family unit and that Marble tried to keep them apart. He pointed to an earlier pregnancy that Marble allegedly forced Harvey to end with an abortion. White said Grovner never recovered from the loss and even kept track of how old the child would have been.

Harvey has also been charged with murder in her mother's death.