SPARTA, Ga. — A 25-year-old Milledgeville man now knows his fate after a jury convicted him Wednesday on charges of aggravated assault and armed robbery of an Ole Miss University student last summer in Hancock County.

Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge Amanda S. Petty sentenced 25-year-old Jordan Jamal Turner to life imprisonment following the two convictions Wednesday afternoon in Hancock County Superior Court.

Turner, who was sentenced as a recidivist, will serve his life sentence in prison on the charge of armed robbery. Petty also sentenced Turner to 20 years on the aggravated assault charge. The sentences are to run concurrently.

A jury of seven women and five men deliberated about an hour and 15 minutes before they returned guilty verdicts on both counts against Turner, according to Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Assistant District Attorney T. Wright Barksdale, who prosecuted the case.

Turner, who was represented by defense attorney Tim Lamb, was heard praying out loud while seated beside his attorney during jury deliberations.

When the verdict was read aloud by the clerk of court, Turner showed emotion as he dropped his head in his hands.

“The sentence is exactly what I wanted and I’ll tell you why,” Barksdale told The Union-Recorder. “This is the second time that he’s been convicted or pled guilty to using a firearm and holding it to somebody’s head. I tell you right now, we, in the district attorney’s office, are just not going to tolerate that. We’re not going to give somebody like that a second chance. You have to balance the individual’s needs versus the community’s needs. He demonstrated, because this was his fourth felony conviction, two with numerous misdemeanors, when you balance it all out, he demonstrated he’s not somebody that needs to be out on the street.”

Barksdale, who prosecutes criminal cases in both Hancock and Putnam counties, said he wanted it to be a statement in the Sparta community and throughout Hancock County.

“It’s actually twofold: One is to let the good law-abiding citizens of the community know that we’re here and we’re not going to tolerate this kind of behavior; we’re here to protect you,” Barksdale said. “The second part is for the criminals out there. If you do this, this is what we’re going for. We’re not playing anymore.”

In the sentencing phase, Barksdale said he told the court that not only were laws being dealt with in the case but that it also involved human beings.

“This gentleman has family, but at a certain point, you’ve got to weigh the community’s needs above the individual’s needs,” Barksdale said. “Time and time again, he’s shown that he is willing to use extreme violence.”

The assistant district attorney recalled asking a rhetorical question during the sentencing phase of the trial.

“And at what point does it go from holding a gun to somebody’s head to actually pulling the trigger,” Barksdale told Petty before she imposed her sentence in the case.

The assistant district attorney pointed out that Lamb attempted to get his client to plead guilty in the case, but Turner wouldn’t do it.

Earlier on Wednesday, the 23-year-old victim in the case, Brandon Williams, a senior majoring in electrical engineering at Ole Miss University in Oxford, Miss., testified as the state’s last witness. Williams lives in Hancock County.

Williams was lured out onto Sparrow Road in Hancock County on June 16, 2018, by Turner and a co-defendant in the case, Allen Gilchrist.

“I think it was a crime of opportunity,” Barksdale said. “Mr. Williams had been drinking that night and had asked for some marijuana from Mr. Gilchrist. After he was given a small amount of marijuana, they took him to that isolated road, stripped the clothing off of him, pistol-whipped him numerous times about the head.”

Gilchrist, who had never before been a convicted felon, pleaded guilty last year to lesser charges that included robbery. He was sentenced to 20 years probation.

Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Superior Court Chief Judge William A. Prior Jr. imposed Gilchrist’s sentence.

“He (Gilchrist) came out and was forthcoming during the course of the investigation very early on, and we agreed because of his cooperation, which seemed to for the most part collaborate what the victim was saying,” Barksdale said.

Gilchrist now finds himself back in the Hancock County Jail in Sparta for failure to report to his probation officer, the assistant district attorney said.

Turner and Gilchrist are cousins.

The case was investigated by Hancock County Sheriff’s Office Chief Investigator Ricky Brown, who testified during the trial on Tuesday.

Another lawman who testified on the first day of Turner’s trial was Lt. Chris Spires, a Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office deputy, who is assigned to the U.S. Marshal’s Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force in Macon.

Spires testified about apprehending Turner after felony warrants were taken out against him by the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office.