Tuesday, November 19, 2024–12:10 p.m.
-WBHF Radio-
Another guilty plea in an armed robbery and murder in Cartersville in May of 2023.
Dayton Bryan Owen of Smyrna pleaded guilty Monday in Bartow County to armed robbery and aggravated Assault.
His co-defendant brother, Dristen Owen, pleaded guilty on November 7 to malice murder, armed robbery, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
Dayton was 19 and Dristen was 15 when 19-year-old Caleb Demond Thomas of Marietta was beaten to death near Parkway Station Drive and Grand Central Way.
Judicial Circuit Superior Court Chief Judge D. Scott Smith accepted the pleas as negotiated by the parties. Dristen Owen was sentenced to serve life in prison, with the possibility of parole, followed by life plus 5 years to serve on probation, and Dayton Owen to life with the first 25 years in prison followed by probation.