A Stockbridge man convicted for an East Cobb murder more than four years ago was sentenced to two consecutive life terms without parole on Monday.
Cobb Superior Court Judge Mary Staley Clark issued the sentence to Johnathan Allan Wheeler Monday afternoon, not long after he was found guilty of malice murder by a jury.
Wheeler, now 35, was on trial last week for the murder of Jerry L. Moore, who was found stabbed 32 times at his home on Gracewood Drive, off Holly Springs Road, on Jan. 25, 2014.
Wheeler also was convicted of felony murder, aggravated assault, armed robbery and first-degree burglary, according to the Cobb District Attorney’s Office.
Cobb prosecutors said during the trial that Wheeler worked at a Woodstock bakery run by Moore’s roommate, Ross Byrne. Moore, who was 46 at the time of his death, was a half-owner in the business but wanted to get out, according to assistant Cobb District Attorney Jesse Evans.
Evans said during the trial that Byrne had been a business mentor to Wheeler and had moved out of Moore’s home a few weeks before the murder. After the stabbings, Evans said, Wheeler went to Byrne’s residence.
Wheeler’s cousin testified during the trial that he confessed to the murder. Cynthia Wheeler agreed to testify against Wheeler after being sentenced in 2016 for helping him clean up the home after the crime and stealing household items there.
The Cobb DA also said that Wheeler confessed to the murders to his brother and stepfather, both of whom testified at the trial.
“This was a relentless, sustained, malicious attack by a cold-blooded killer,” Evans told jurors in his closing statements while showing them pictures at the crime scene, according to the DA’s office. “The defendant pursued, out of greed and out of malice. No human being should ever have this inflicted on them.”
Wheeler served nearly a decade in prison for robbery and assault in Cobb and Cherokee counties, and was released in 2010.
Over the last two years, Wheeler had written frequently from the Cobb County Adult Detention Center to the court in pleas for a speedy trial, according to documents filed with the Cobb Superior Court Clerk’s office.
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