LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE FOR SHOOTING DEATH OF OFFICER

Drug-Induced Psychosis Blamed for Killing

Atlanta- Fulton County District Attorney Paul L. Howard, Jr. announces a conviction by guilty plea in the case against Kenneth Gerald Reese. 31-year old Reese was convicted today of Murder, Felony Murder, Aggravated Assault as well as obstruction and weapons charges. He was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Alford J. Dempsey, Jr. to life without parole, plus 30 years for the 2003 murder of Fulton County Police Officer Aaron J. Blount, 26.

Officer Blount was gunned down on April 22, 2003 after pulling Reese over for a traffic stop near the intersection of Roosevelt Highway and Ben Hill Road in College Park. Reese jumped out of his car opening fire on the officer who had not yet exited his patrol car. Officer Blount was shot three times---once in the shoulder and twice in the back of the head with two separate guns. Reese fled to Florida where he was later captured while awaiting a Greyhound bus.

At the time of the shooting, there seemed no apparent motive, as Reese had no prior criminal record. However, a state ordered psychiatric evaluation released just last week to prosecutors revealed that Reese had regularly been taking an Ephedra-based diet drug at the time of the murder. Experts have found that Ephedra can cause side-effects such as paranoia and heart attacks. Reese may have been in a drug-induced psychotic state when he murdered Officer Blount. Ephedra has since been removed from over-the-counter diet drugs due to deaths and other health related issues.

DA Howard hopes today’s plea and sentence represents some measure of closure for the Blount family and Officer Blount’s colleagues with the Fulton County Police Department. Howard, however, laments the fact the case has taken so long to be brought to justice saying, “This is a case that cries out for case processing standards which would require definitive timelines for cases to be tried. I believe this case should have been tried within a year. Our office has long been ready, willing and able to present this case. The fact that it has languished in our system for nearly six long years is unacceptable.”

The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorneys Pete Johnson and Fani Willis with assistance from D-A investigators Beth Suber and Steve Barresi. Detectives Glenn Kalish and Melvin Dean of the Fulton County Police Department led the initial investigation.

Media Contact: Yvette Brown, 404-224-0560/404-392-8867, yvette.brown@fultoncountyga.gov