Felony murder conviction upheld for 2017 Milledgeville shooting

MILLEDGEVILLE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — The Georgia Supreme Court says a Baldwin county felony murder conviction stands.

A grand jury found Malik Taylor guilty in the 2017 murder of Jyleel Solomon. Taylor, the victim–Solomon– and two others were driving around Milledgeville with guns. There was a shoot out at a home on Central Avenue where people at the home returned fire, which led to Solomon being shot in the head and killed. While driving Solomon to the hospital, the group pulled into a gas station to seek help from an officer that was parked there. He was then taken to the hospital where he later died from his injury.

When Taylor gave a statement to investigators after the incident, he said he was driving past Central Avenue when he heard shots coming from his left (though he couldn’t recall whether they were coming from inside or outside the car), and said he grabbed his pistol and started firing in the air.

Taylor was charged with the felony murder of Solomon, predicated on the aggravated assaults of the group at Central Avenue.

At trial, Taylor claimed he was shooting in self-defense– he appealed his conviction, claiming jury instructions about self defense were unclear, but the Supreme Court disagreed and upheld the conviction.