ATLANTA (AP) — A trial is set to begin Monday for a man charged with murder in the July 2020 shooting death of an 8-year-old girl who was riding in an SUV near a weekslong protest at the site where police had fatally shot a Black man weeks earlier.
Julian Conley is charged with murder, as well as aggravated assault, gun and gang-related counts, in the killing of Secoriea Turner. A second man, Jerrion McKinney, on Wednesday received a 40-year sentence, with 20 years to serve in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated assault, gun and gang-related charges in the girl’s death.
Secoriea was riding in the back of a Jeep with her mother and her mother’s friend on July 4, 2020, near the Wendy’s restaurant where Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old Black man, had been killed by a white police officer weeks earlier. Protesters had been rallying against police brutality nationwide since the May 2020 murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police…