Murder Trial Continues in Bryant Murder; Talbot Residents Await Decision

Also Reported by Lendrez Greene

A verdict of the three people accused of killing Manchester High star athlete Daryus Bryant is expected to come sometime this week after the jury couldn’t come to a conclusion on Friday, May 22 and reconvened on Tuesday, May 26.
The verdict was not avaiable at press time of this newspaper.
Three Talbot County residents are facing charges of murder, three counts of aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
Bryant was shot and killed only a few days before his 17 birthday in Columbus after attending the school’s prom on April 20, 2024.
Bryant and Clarence Favors, both attending the school’s prom, received injuries in the shooting that occurred that evening near Macon Road. Favors survived the shooting.
Talbot County teens Semaj Copeland, a distant cousin of Bryant’s, Zion Horton and Jaquan Mahone are all on trial in Muscogee County Court with Judge Art Smith presiding.
Mahone was arrested in the case and was taken into custody on July 21, 2025, Copeland turned himself in to the Talbot County Sheriff’s Office on July 8 and Horton was taken into custody in Coweta County on July 3.
In opening statements, prosecutors pointed out the school’s prom was held at the Columbus Trade Center. Bryant was to meet a girl after the prom but met friends at a Circle K near Flat Rock Road. A four car convoy of Manchester High football players and students left the Circle K and a silver Impala pulled up beside the cars near an intersection and opened fire.
Prosecutors pointed out that Copeland drives a silver Impala and said they believed that Horton and Mahone were in the vehicle as well. They stated surveillance video footage will show occupants opening fire on the red Mustang Bryant was driving.
Defense attorneys asked jurors to watch the video evidence and make their own decision about what it might show. The defense also said that witnesses said a raggedy Toyota with four occupants did the shooting.
Prosecutors noted that Central Elementary-High School also held its prom in Columbus that same evening and Copeland’s cell phone pinged at the Circle K around the time that Bryant and his friends were there and that Mahone’s phone pinged near Crystal Valley Drive, near the shooting location, at the time of the shooting.
Two Columbus police officers made statements on the stand about the investigation and jurors heard 911 calls and body camera video from the night of the shooting.
On the third day of the trial, witnesses took to the stand.
Tamia Neal was the first person to testify in the case and stated she was at a home at Crystal Court the night the shooting occurred. The home was not far for where the shooting occurred, according to statements. She testified she heard gunshots and was getting ready to leave when she saw a silver car pull up. She stated she was not sure the vehicle matched the description of Copeland’s vehicle.
A detective who investigated the case, St. Danielle Danforth, testified that Horton’s account had differed from statements he made during his initial interview and stated that Horton had asked, “So you saw me hanging out of the window shooting at somebody?”
The detective said he had never stated anything about someone shooting from a car.
Another witness in the case, Marcaria Mahone, who was reportedly a close friend of Bryant’s and also knew Copeland, also took to the stand. She testified she knew Copeland’s vehicle and described it as a silver, dark-tinted Impala.
Jaden Terry, another Manchester student-athlete, testified and stated the teens were at the Circle K and had gone there after receiving a call from another Manchester student stating everyone was going to meet there. He stated the convoy had been following Quavion Cooper to a party but had lost him after stopping at a traffic light. Cooper has been charged in the murder case of another Manchester football player and is scheduled for trial in Meriwether County in August.
Terry testified he saw three or four people in the vehicle the shots were fired from and recognized Copeland. He stated he did not know the other people in the Copeland vehicle but identified Mahone and Horton.
On Thursday, May 21 closing arguments began in the case. The attorneys representing Copeland, Horton and Mahone argued that the prosection had not shown reasonable doubt in the case.
Defense Attorney Michael Garner made a point of noting the prosecution didn’t have a ballistics report connecting the three men to the murder.
Chief District Attorney Wesley Lambertus stated that without the firearm ballistics could not be done and pointed out that Horton has stated, “You don’t have a gun,” and questioned why he was confident of that.
The jurors began deliberating on Friday morning in the case around 10 a.m. bit dod not reach a verdict. The jurors requested for the court to re-show a video the prosecution belives that shows the vehicle of the defendants pursue the Bryant vehicle.

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