SIXTY-YEAR PLEA DEAL IN ARMED ROBBERY/MURDER OF MUSIC PRODUCER’S TEENAGE SON

Defendant Attacked Victim at Gas Station

Atlanta- The man accused of gunning down a teenager he was trying to rob in the parking lot of a Midtown gas station is facing sixty years behind bars following his admission of guilt. 25-year old Melvin Bardwell is scheduled to enter a guilty plea Friday morning, June 4, 2010 to the charges of Voluntary Manslaughter, Armed Robbery, Aggravated Assault, and weapons charges for the 2009 shooting death of 16-year old Adair Freeman.

Freeman was killed on January 24, 2009 in the parking lot of the Shell gas station near 14th and Spring Streets. The teen was working at a music studio next door and had walked over to the convenience store to get snacks and a bag of ice. Eyewitnesses say Defendant Bardwell approached the victim at gunpoint, walked him over to a secluded area and demanded his ‘stuff’. When the teen resisted, the defendant fired several shots—one of them striking the victim in the back. The defendant was also struck in the leg by one of his own bullets. He fled the scene, leaving the teenager to die. Bardwell then sought treatment for his injuries at a local hospital under an assumed name. He was later arrested in Houston, Texas and when questioned by police concocted a story about being robbed and shot by perpetrators who stole his truck and murdered the teenager.

Bardwell’s guilty plea will be taken before Fulton County Superior Court Judge Wendy Shoob in courtroom 7E at 9 a.m.

Senior District Attorney Clint Rucker led the prosecution with assistance from DA Investigator G.G. Carawan. Detective D. Agan of the Atlanta Police Department led the initial investigation.

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