Macon – A Macon man was sentenced to 25 years in prison Thursday after he pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the June 6, 2015, shooting death of William Ford on Highland Avenue.
Andre Lucas, 41, also pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Convicted on a cocaine possession charge in 2000, he was barred from having a gun.
If the case had gone to trial, prosecutors Nancy Scott Malcor and Jason Martin would have presented evidence showing:
Bibb County deputies were called to Highland Avenue at about 10:45 p.m. in response to a person being shot. Ford, 55, had been shot in the neck and was taken to a local hospital.
Although it was difficult to talk, Ford told a detective he’d driven to Highland Avenue with a friend to drop off some food. He said he waited in the car while his friend walked toward a house with the food. Ford said he had a gun in his lap because he had concerns about his safety.
A man walked up to the car and asked Ford for a cigarette lighter. Ford replied that he didn’t smoke and the man walked away. The man soon returned and Ford told him to go away. Then the man shot Ford in the neck. Ford was not sure if he’d fired his gun.
Ford’s friend said the same man had first asked her for a cigarette when she was walking to the house. She replied she didn’t smoke. The man then walked over to Ford and the car.
A tip led deputies to Lucas, who both Ford and his friend picked from a line-up as being someone who looked like the man they’d seen on the night of the shooting. Lucas was arrested June 10, 2015, on charges of aggravated assault and aggravated battery. He was charged with murder after Ford died June 22, 2015.
Lucas, who had been shot in the thumb, later took deputies to a spot where he said he threw a gun in a storm drain, but the gun was not recovered.
Speaking after the hearing, Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney David Cooke said, “Grown-ups know that you don’t settle arguments with guns. By the time Mr. Lucas gets out of prison, he’ll be an old man and will have spent years wishing he’d learned that lesson earlier.”
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Contact: Amy Leigh Womack
478-621-6179 (office)
478-319-2529 (cell)
