Man ordered hit from inside jail to kill Gwinnett man, prosecutors say

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A Gwinnett County murder suspect says he didn't commit the crime because he was locked up in state prison at the time of the November homicide.
 
Prosecutors agree that Gordon Evans was behind bars at Hayes State Prison when Jeffrey Anderson, 25, was gunned down in a Lawrenceville home, but they say Evans ordered the murder from his cell.
 
Evans and a co-defendant, Dossie Mann, were in court Wednesday as police described the case to a judge.
 
Police said Mann confessed to the crime, admitting that Evans ordered the hit.
 
Mann said he and another man, Durrell Lewis, went into the home Nov. 24 and killed Anderson over a debt, according to investigators.
 
Gwinnett County Homicide Detective Patrick Watson told the judge that Evans "was angry at Anderson because he'd loaned Anderson $500 to pay Anderson's rent, then he saw Anderson on Facebook spending the money at the clubs. He said he was heated and felt like it was a slap in the face."
 
Police said Anderson was held underwater in a tub, then was shot two times in the back of the head.
 
"He begged for his life and also stated that he had a young child," Watson said.
 
Investigators said Evans is the leader of a Bloods gang in Georgia, and although he's been locked up for 15 years, he still has the power to get others to kill for him.
 
Police said they cracked the case through cellphone records and hours of wiretaps, some of them recorded from a contraband cellphone that they say Evans was using while he was a prisoner at Hancock State Prison.
 
Evans' attorney, George Plumides, told Channel 2's Tony Thomas that he believes the murder was all result of a drug deal, and his client, who was in prison, wasn't involved.
 
"I think it's a stretch for the state to argue that he ordered a hit from prison over $500 in rent. That's really hard to get to," Plumides said.
 
The third suspect, Durrell Lewis, remains at large and is also charged with murder and other crimes.
 
A magistrate judge dropped armed robbery charges against Mann and Evans, saying there wasn't enough direct proof that they stole the victim's cellphone.

WSBTV