A DeKalb County mother says she is devastated after learning the man once charged with killing her son has been arrested again on another malice murder charge.
22-year-old Cortez Florence is now back in the DeKalb County jail after police charged him with malice murder in a gas station shootout on Halloween night that killed a 27-year-old man.
Deputies identified the victim in the Oct. 30 shooting as Quintin Lewis Jr., 27, of Decatur. Authorities said the two were arguing at the gas station.
Four years ago, Kameshia Hawkins lost her 17-year-old son, Devon Jackson, in a 2021 Stone Mountain fatal shooting. Police initially charged Florence with malice murder in Jackson’s death.
“It was just so surreal to see this same face again for the same charge,” Hawkins said. “Actually, my body shut down. I went into a full panic attack.”
Soon after Jackson’s killing, detectives charged Florence with malice murder, but DeKalb County prosecutors said they could not prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
“And here we are now, four years later, and somebody else burying their child,” Hawkins said. “This is something I felt like probably could have been prevented had the system not kind of let us down on several occasions.”
“I just pray for that family because I remember being on that front row at that funeral. I remember picking up that death certificate,” she said.
Hawkins said she and her family have been the targets of social media threats and drive-by shootings and have had to move homes.
A spokesperson for the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office said they did not decide to drop the charges lightly.
“Devan Jackson’s death was a tragedy and we have expressed our deepest condolences to his family. When the case occurred back in 2021, our staff was in regular contact with Mr. Jackson’s loved ones and kept them updated on the progress of the case,” a DeKalb District Attorney’s Office spokesperson said in an email. “Alongside the DeKalb County Police Department, our investigators and attorneys thoroughly reviewed the case after Cortez Florence’s arrest and collected additional evidence, which included witness statements, phone records, ballistics, etc. After a diligent investigation, we determined that we could not move forward with the prosecution of Mr. Florence. The evidence showed Florence was not the first person to display a gun during the incident, which raised the issue of self-defense. Additionally, Mr. Florence was not the shooter and there was no evidence Mr. Florence was aware of any potential criminal intent or intent to shoot by the other individuals outside the car. Our team met multiple times with Mr. Jackson’s family to explain our decision. Our office policy is that we only move forward on cases where we believe we have the evidence to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, therefore we did not present the case to the Grand Jury for indictment.”
Jail records show Florence has been denied bond.
