George Prince appears in an October 2019 photo. (Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office)
A Florida man was convicted this week of two counts of murder for killing a 19-year-old pregnant woman and the child she was carrying. From now on, he will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
George Prince, 30, was sentenced by Judge Mark Borello to two consecutive life sentences in Florida State Prison without the possibility of parole immediately following the verdict, the State’s Attorney’s Office for the State said. Fourth Judicial Circuit in a press release.
The gruesome crime took place on October 7, 2019, according to an arrest report obtained by Law&Crime. Iyana McGraw, 19, was found in the dining room of her apartment with multiple gunshot wounds. McGraw was rushed to hospital, but she “died from her injuries,” the report noted.
The victim was nine months pregnant at the time of the shooting and doctors successfully performed an emergency caesarean section. Baby Milan McGraw was born and transferred to another hospital in critical condition, then transferred to a specialized children’s hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. The child died on January 10, 2020, “due to complications” from the shooting, the police report notes.
After a trial lasting less than two days, jurors spent 15 minutes deliberating before convicting Prince of two counts of first-degree murder.
According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, the evidence against Prince was nearly overwhelming – leading to a taped confession in which the defendant gave “detailed information” that matched concurrent investigative efforts into how of which he had killed both McGraw and his infant daughter, according to the report. .
Two firearms were used in the shooting, and both were recovered by detectives, according to the JSO. At least one of these weapons was used by Prince. One of the firearms was found with a co-defendant who later pleaded guilty to his involvement, prosecutors say.
The arrest report says a witness told police Prince promised the second man with the second gun, Gerod Fields, 29, $1,000 for his help in shooting the apartment – but that ‘”he was never paid”.
Fields pleaded guilty to two counts of second degree murder for his role in the murders. He awaits his sentencing.
A second unidentified witness told police she had just finished watching television the night of the murder when she heard gunshots, the report said. Then, the witness said, she looked outside and saw the man she knew as “Dougie” in the parking lot of the victim’s apartment complex, shooting a handgun. This man, she said, was Prince.
As for the motive, the genesis, at least, was steeped in illegal drugs.
According to the report, two people provided law enforcement with information that Prince and Miles Hall, McGraw’s boyfriend at the time, were somehow involved in a feud related to the dope.
This feud is said to have culminated when someone fired several shots in Prince’s apartment – just hours before the accused set out on a quest for revenge. The defendant blamed the attack on his flat in Hall, a witness said. Police later confirmed that Prince’s flat had been “shot down” earlier that day.
So, according to prosecutors, Prince planned to “send her a message.”
Cell phone evidence was later provided to police who placed Prince in and near McGraw’s apartment complex at the time of the shooting. A witness said Prince fled his apartment around 7:45 p.m. on the evening in question, wearing latex gloves and holding a gun. The accused explained to him that he had to “go take care of something”.
Ronald McNair, a suspect in another case, said Prince and Hall were previously friends “who had a falling out over drugs”. After he and Prince were arrested on unrelated charges by the ATF two days later, McNair told law enforcement that Prince believed Hall was responsible for the attempt on his life — and that he had been invited to the retaliatory shootout by Prince, who was primed, looking for Hall, and ready to go: wearing latex gloves and with a gun in tow.
McNair, however, refused to join Prince in the fatal crime – saying it was unclear who fired initially.
“I don’t care,” Prince replied. “I also kill women and children.”
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