Get notified by email when this case is updated.
Written by: A. Smith
Published July 7, 2025 @ 12:35 PM ET
FULTON COUNTY, Ga. – The Georgia Supreme Court has overturned the murder conviction of a man sentenced to life in prison for the 2012 killing of a suspected drug dealer whose body was found in the trunk of a burned-out car in southwest Atlanta.
In a divided ruling issued Tuesday, the court found that Andrew Wilson did not receive a fair trial in the death of Gregory Harris and could be retried on most of the charges. Justices ruled that Fulton County prosecutors should not have been permitted to present evidence linking Wilson to an unrelated armed robbery in 2011, calling it irrelevant and prejudicial.
“The introduction of evidence that Wilson committed an armed robbery that involved holding victims at gunpoint and threatening them to keep quiet slightly over a year before Harris was robbed and murdered was undoubtedly prejudicial,” the court wrote. The murder case, the justices noted, was based entirely on circumstantial evidence.
Wilson was convicted in December 2015 of malice murder, felony murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, first-degree arson, and theft by receiving stolen property in connection with Harris’ death. He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. His request for a new trial was denied by the trial court in July 2023.
The high court ruled Tuesday that the theft conviction should be dropped entirely due to insufficient evidence and said prosecutors could retry Wilson on the remaining charges.
At trial, prosecutors argued that Harris — who was believed to have been dealing drugs — was targeted for his wealth, particularly his expensive watches. They said he met Wilson, described in court records as a “professional robber,” at the Onyx gentleman’s club in Atlanta. Harris’ home in Newton County had been ransacked, and two luxury watches valued at $140,000 were missing.
His body was found in the trunk of his burned vehicle, bound with wiring, plastic and fabric. An autopsy determined that Harris was asphyxiated before the fire.
“The state’s theory of the case was that Wilson met Harris at Onyx gentleman’s club in Atlanta and targeted Harris as a robbery victim because of Harris’s apparent wealth, which Harris generated by selling drugs, including marijuana, cocaine and heroin,” the appellate court wrote. Wilson maintained during trial that he had no involvement in the crimes.
Wilson’s attorney, Rachel Kaufman, welcomed the decision and said she would work to secure his release. “This makes me very happy,” Kaufman said Tuesday. “Too often the prosecution is allowed to bring in random bad information about someone.” She also said retrying Wilson would be a poor use of state resources, calling the case against him “not particularly strong.”
A spokesperson for the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office said prosecutors are reviewing the ruling and will determine their next steps.
At the time of his murder trial, Wilson had not yet faced trial in the 2011 robbery. He was acquitted of all charges in that case except for one count of threatening a witness during an August 2016 trial.
Wilson’s co-defendant in the murder case, Edgar Hubbard, was also tried separately and acquitted on all charges except arson.
The state Supreme Court acknowledged similarities between the 2011 armed robbery and Harris’ death, but noted there were also major differences — particularly in the level of violence.
Much of the case against Wilson relied on cellphone records, which placed him and Hubbard with Harris hours before Harris’ ransacked home was discovered and later near the area where Harris’ body and vehicle were found. The court allowed that evidence to stand.
In a partial dissent, Chief Justice Nels Peterson wrote that he believed the murder conviction should have been upheld, even without the 2011 robbery evidence.
“The cellphone location data from Wilson’s, Hubbard’s and Harris’s phones showed that Wilson and Hubbard were with Harris mere hours before his ransacked house was discovered and then near the location where Harris’s body and burned-out car were found,” Peterson wrote. “Wilson’s and Hubbard’s phones were also in almost constant communication in the hours leading up to and following the crime.”
Get notified by email when this case is updated.