GUILTY GA - Katie Hamlin, 15, body burned, Cherokee County, 2 Jul 2002

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/cherokee/0505/25rocha.html

Roberto Rocha finds uncommon joy these days sweating in the sun, mowing someone else's grass, earning his own spending money.

Rocha, 21, embraces such simple pleasures as these as he rebuilds his life after more than a year of jail time and house arrest.
Rocha was one of three men charged in connection with the murder of a 15-year Cherokee County girl — even though he was out of the country when Katie Hamlin was killed in July 2002.

Earlier this month, charges against Rocha were dismissed quietly.

There is a pic with the article. Roberto looks mentally challenged. I wonder if the other two were trying to set him up? Shame that it took so long for LE to recognize that he wasn't even in the country.

It's been more than three years since her daughter, Katie Hamlin, was found dead. Donna Hamlin has since changed her name, becoming Hamlin-Tubbs after getting remarried in May. In August, she moved into a new house in Canton.

But Hamlin-Tubbs said she won't really be able to move on with her life until the two men charged with killing her daughter face a judge and jury. That is expected to happen today in Cherokee County Superior Court before Judge Frank Mills.

Jamerson Mangrum, 20, is charged with felony murder and rape. Jonathan Elkins, 21, is charged with being a party to the crime of felony murder and making false statements, both felonies.

The men are expected to be tried together, said Cherokee District Attorney Garry Moss.

The nude, partially burned body of 15-year-old Katie Hamlin was found July 2, 2002, in a dry creek in Cherokee County near Lake Allatoona. It took a week to identify the body using dental records, and it was 19 months before a GBI pathologist ruled in February 2004 that Katie had died of asphyxiation

DNA evidence and telephone records link Mangrum with Katie, said Capt. Ron Hunton, head of the violent crimes unit of the Cherokee Sheriff's Department.
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/cherokee/1105/28methamlin.html

Found guilty of the rape and murder of Katie Hamlin.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/cherokee/1205/10methamlin.html

Above: victim, 15-year old Katie Hamlin

Jamerson Mangrum has been found guilty of the murder of 15-year old Katie Hamlin. Mangrum ... denied killing the teenager. He testified that she was alive when he left her at a friend's house.


The prosecution presented jail inmates who testified that Mangrum admitted killing the girl after he was first arrested after her body was discovered.

More: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/5500821/detail.html

A man convicted last week in the rape and murder of 15-year-old Katie Hamlin received a sentence of life in prison plus 80 years, 11Alive's Jon Shirek reported from Cherokee County Thursday.

Jamerson Mangrum must serve his sentences consecutively, the judge ruled upon handing down a punishment that was harsher that what the prosecution had recommended in the case.
http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=73321

Wow....I like this kind of justice. That jury didn't fool around. Weren't the two guys being tried together? Katie got justice...thank God...she was such a pretty girl and just looks so happy in that picture. Had she dated the man who murdered her?

This is a case which I wish the Innocent Project would look into. Before anyone comes down on me for saying that, let me say that I knew Katie Hamlin and live in the community where she died. Jamerson Mangram who was convicted of her death admitted to having consensual sex with Katie prior to her death so the DNA results are correct, however the facts of the case after that point were greatly skewed in order to convict Mangram. He was only 17 years old when she died and was sentenced to serve life plus 80 years in her death which is an abomination IMO. Jamerson panicked after Katie died and made many stupid decisions in disposing of her body which is what made the crime seem so horrific and which I believe played a central role in his conviction and harsh sentencing. Her death was a tragic accident not a premeditated murder as the state contended which is why I feel that his conviction and sentence were unwarranted and should be looked at by the Innocent Project.

You need only look at an article that ABC news did about the conduct of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office in obtaining a false confession from another young man in this case to figure out exactly how corrupt they are.

http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/LegalCenter/story?id=1779251&page=1