DEFENDANT CONVICTED IN ROCK BEATING DEATH OF HOMELESS MAN

Victim’s Body Found in School Courtyard

Atlanta- Fulton County District Attorney Paul L. Howard, Jr. announces the conviction by jury trial in the murder case against 30-year-old Anderson Carson, a homeless Atlanta man. Carson was convicted Thursday morning of Murder, Felony Murder, Aggravated Assault, Robbery by Force and Battery for the beating death of another homeless man, 55-year old Lee Ronald Sokol, and the robbery of a pedestrian.

A teacher glancing out a window discovered Sokol’s bloody and beaten body in the courtyard of East Rivers Elementary school on June 9, 2009. Police summoned to the scene found a large rock next to the victim which had been used to beat him about his head and body. Hours later, Defendant Carson was arrested a few blocks away from the murder scene after robbing a pedestrian who in turn chased him down and called police. Though he denied being at the school or having any knowledge of the murder, Carson was arrested in the same blood-stained clothes he was seen wearing on school surveillance video just hours before. The blood was a positive match for the victim’s DNA.

Carson was sentenced to life plus ten years in prison by presiding Fulton County Superior Court Judge Henry Newkirk.

The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Cheveda McCamy with assistance from ADA Chris Lacock and DA Investigator Vance Williams. Detective W.K. Murdock of the Atlanta Police Department led the initial investigation.

Media Contact: Yvette Brown, 404-224-0560/404-392-8867, yvette.brown@fultoncountyga.gov