UPDATE: The jury deciding the fate of Dervon Johnson resumed deliberations at 8:40 a.m. Monday.

The jury got the case from Superior Court Judge Ron Mullins Friday afternoon and deliberated about three hours before breaking for the weekend.

WRBL News 3 will remain on jury watch.

UPDATE: A Muscogee County Superior Court jury went home for the weekend Friday evening after failing to reach a verdict in the murder trial of Drevon Johnson.

The jury deliberated for about three and a half hours before Judge Ron Mullins sent the 12 members and alternate home just after 6 p.m.

Mullins called the jury into the courtroom and asked if they wanted to break for the weekend or continue to deliberate. The foreman told the judge it might be best if they went home.

An hour and a half before the jury broke, it had its first question for the court. The jurors asked to rewatch a police interview of one of the men who was at the 2016 party in which Richard Collier was shot to death.

The jury will return Monday morning to continue deliberations.

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) — After a weeklong trial, a Muscogee County Superior Court jury has the fate of 28-year-old Drevon Johnson in its hands. 

Johnson is accused of killing 23-year-old Richard Collier on May 14, 2016 at a party at Collier’s Hodges Drive home. 

The jury got the case Friday afternoon about 2:30 after closing arguments by Muscogee County District Attorney Mark Jones and Johnson’s defense attorney, Anthony Johnson. The defendant and his lawyer are not related. 

Drevon Johnson is facing felony and malice murder charges and life in prison if convicted.

It is the first trial that Jones has tried since he was elected district attorney last year. During his campaign to defeat three-term incumbent Julia Slater, Jones promised to personally try murder cases. More than 80 defendants are currently jailed on murder charges. 

The center of the state’s case was that Drevon Johnson shot Collier as Collier was breaking up a fight between two women at the party. 

Collier’s girlfriend, Janie Reynolds, who was also trying to stop the altercation, testified that she was punched in the face by one of the three men at the party with Trevon Johnson. 

She was knocked out and heard a gunshot as she was falling to the ground. That gunshot killed her boyfriend. 

Jones used a video screen to show the jury evidence throughout his closing. He showed crime scene photos of the victim. Drevon Johnson goes by the nickname “Six.” At one point, Jones showed a yellow evidence marker with the number “6” on it.

“Even God thinks he did it,” Jones told the jury.

One witness testified that Drevon Johnson was the shooter. 

The defense countered that though Drevon Johnson was at the party, he was not the shooter. Text messages from Andrew Lloyd, who was also at the party, proved Lloyd could have been the shooter, Anthony Johnson told the jury. 

Lloyd’s texts, sent just hours after the shooting, said he had ruined his life and he was facing life in prison. 

Lloyd did not testify and despite a subpoena, he could not be found. He has not been charged in this case.

“That’s why Andrew Lloyd is not here, he knows he would have to answer to you,” Anthony Johnson told the jury. 

The district attorney countered that Lloyd was not in the courtroom because he was afraid of Drevon Johnson. 

“He was a afraid he would kill him,” Jones said. 

Collier’s mother, Dawn Boyd, has sat at the prosecution table with Jones throughout the trial. She also testified that she was convinced Drevon Johnson was the triggerman based on an anonymous tip she received and posts on Drevon Johnson’s social media pages.

Jones told the jury he went forward with the trial even though he could not get Lloyd, a key witness, into the courtroom. Collier’s mother is a key reason the trial is moving forward, the district attorney said.

“Dawn wanted me to go and I wanted to go,” Jones said. “And that’s what I am doing.”

Jones urged the jury to quick in their deliberations.