NEWTON COUNTY, Ga. — A judge found a woman accused of setting a fire that killed a 37-year-old man guilty on several counts Thursday.
Channel 2 Action News reporter Liz Artz was the only reporter in a DeKalb County courtroom Thursday when multiple guilty verdicts came down for Jasmine Lockett.
Lockett was handcuffed and hauled out of the courtroom after being found guilty of felony murder, arson, five counts of aggravated assault and three counts of criminal damage.
“I know God is a good God, a just God. He's a fair God,” said Tomika Worthem, whose fiancé, Tony Hubert, was killed in the fire. %
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Worthem said Hubert saved her life on October when the fire broke out at The Parke on Covington apartment complex, where the family lived.
"I lost someone who was very special to me," Worthem said.
She says he helped each family member escape through a window before succumbing to the smoke.
“I stood there and I cried because it was the last thing I wanted to do, was jump out that window and he busted the window open and he said, ‘You're going to jump,’ and he pushed me,” daughter Tavona Smith told Artz.
Keyera Wade also escaped that day. She believes the fire was set to kill her. She told Artz she had a dispute with Lockett, who she thought was squatting in a vacant unit across the parking lot.
"Just dealing with everyday life being scared, that's something you never get over,” Wade said.
Lockett and a man, Melvin Wayne Griffin, were arrested in the case and had been awaiting trial in the DeKalb County Jail.
They were both indicted for the crime, but prosecutors were able to prove that Lockett started the fire.
Griffin pleaded guilty to manslaughter and is serving five years in prison.
The judge is expected to sentence Jasmine Lockett next week.
Cox Media Group
