Winder man gets life without parole for 2010 murder

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Winder man gets life without parole for 2010 murder

Posted by

Mike Buffington

in Public Safety Archives

Wednesday, April 27. 2011

Comments (8)

A Winder man charged in a June 2010 murder at his sister’s house pleaded guilty last week and was sentenced to life without parole in Barrow County Superior Court.

Superior Court Judge Currie Mingledorff sentenced James William Bush on charges of shooting and killing Antonio Zavala Lopez and injuring two others.

The case was originally set for jury trial in August on 31 counts of charges from murder to hijacking a motor vehicle.
Prosecutors claimed that Bush was intoxicated at his sister’s house where a large group of family and friends gathered outside on the night of June 29. He began arguing with other members outside and at some point became angry and brandished a gun, said District Attorney Brad Smith.

Bush first began threatening people with the gun and at some point, began firing, in front of children, killing Lopez and shooting two others before fleeing the scene and wrecking his vehicle.

A passerby stopped to help him and Bush carjacked that vehicle, Smith said. Bush was caught in Gwinnett County.

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#1 Jus sayin on 04/27/11 at 11:44 AM [Reply]

so we have to feed and home this turd for the rest of his life?

#2 Fortitude on 04/27/11 at 01:26 PM [Reply]

Im sure the DA and judge didnt want to go to the trouble for the death penalty, after all, it would make more sense to spend $30k a year on him than to eliminate him the way he eliminated the guy he killed.
Good ole "BARRA COUNTIE" justice

#3 Jack Legg on 04/27/11 at 02:01 PM [Reply]

I will tell yo what I cant believe , I cant believe that the DA and judge didnt conspire to give this asshole probation.
We need to have some law here in Barrow county .

#4 Liberal DA opposed to death penalty on 04/27/11 at 09:25 PM [Reply]

Ol' democrat RINO Brad Smith ain't in favor of the death penalty. Look at how his predecessor was going after execution for the mass murderer in Hoschton who burned his kids up and killed two others in the same murder, but as soon as Smith took office, he dropped the death penalty and plea bargained the case to life.

Just so ya know.

#4.1 Victor on 04/27/11 at 09:55 PM [Reply]

Brad Smith is NOT anti-death penalty. He is against the idea of wasting taxpayers money trying a weak death penalty case, just to see the jury opt for life in prison anyway. Just look at the Brian Nichols case. That case was as cut and dry as it gets. Millions wasted on a verdict that resulted in a sentence that Nichols would have pled to. I'm all for "eye for an eye", but it's simply too hard to get these days. On another note, Georgia is facing the very real posibility of not being able to carry out executions because of the states inability to obtain the approved drugs used during executions...

#4.1.1 Jack Legg on 04/28/11 at 07:11 AM [Reply]

All you really need is a tall tree and a short piece of rope.If I were in County Gobt. the local namby pamby DA that we have would be forced to start prosecuting crimminals or resign.

#4.1.2 Fortitude on 04/28/11 at 07:50 AM [Reply]

I can see that, but what gets me is the amount of plea's from the office of Brad "King Probation" Smith has. I had a brother in law who was a repeat offender, busted by undercovers and would not rat out his POS druggie friends, he spent 6mos in prison and was given a 1yr sentence from Smith. Now, what is the point of having a weak ass DA ?

#5 anonie mouse on 04/28/11 at 12:03 PM [Reply]

The death penalty in Georgia is a joke anyway. From 1977 to 2007, there were 225 death penalty convictions. Of that number, only 40 have actually been executed.
I agree our DA needs to be handing out tougher sentences for most crimes, but even if he had sought and won the death penalty in this case, the chances of the guy actually being executed are slim to none.

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