Trial Begins in Bryant Murder

The murder trial of three people accused of killing Manchester High star athlete Daryus Bryant got underway last Monday and is still ongoing. It is believed the trial could take up to two weeks or more.
Three Talbot County residents are facing charges of murder, three counts of aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
Bryant was shot and killed only a few days before his 17 birthday in Columbus after attending the school’s prom on April 20, 2024.
Bryant and Clarence Favors, both attending the school’s prom, received injuries in the shooting that occurred that evening near Macon Road. Favors survived the shooting.
Talbot County teens Semaj Copeland, a distant cousin of Bryant’s, Zion Horton and Jaquan Mahone are all on trial in Muscogee County Court with Judge Art Smith presiding.
Mahone was arrested in the case and was taken into custody on July 21, 2025, Copeland turned himself in to the Talbot County Sheriff’s Office on July 8 and Horton was taken into custody in Coweta County on July 3.
Talbot County teens Semaj Copeland, a distant cousin of Bryant’s, Zion Horton and Jaquan Mahone are all on trial in Muscogee County Court with Judge Art Smith presiding.
In opening statements last week, prosecutors pointed out that the school’s prom was held at the Columbus Trade Center. Bryant was to meet a girl after the prom but met friend at a Circle K near Flat Rock Road. A four car convoy of Manchester High football players and students left the Circle K a silver Impala pulled up beside the cars near an intersection and opened fire.
Prosecutors pointed out that Copeland drives a silver Impala and said they believed that Horton and Mahone were in the vehicle as well. They stated surveillance video footage will show occupants opening fire on the red Mustang Bryant was driving.
Defense attorneys asked jurors to watch the video evidence and make their own decision about what it might show. The defense also said that witnesses said a raggedy Toyota with four occupants did the shooting.
Prosecutors noted that Central Elementary-High School also held its prom in Columbus that same evening and Copeland’s cell phone pinged at the Circle K around the time that Bryant and his friends were there and that Mahone’s phone pinged near Crystal Valley Drive, near the shooting location, at the time of the shooting.
Two Columbus police officers made statements on the stand about the investigation and jurors heard 911 calls and body camera video from the night of the shooting.
The trial resumed on Friday, May 15.