From DA Keith Higgins's office:
District Attorney Keith Higgins announces that Ronrecus Goodwin, 23, of Brunswick, entered a guilty plea to one count of Malice Murder in the death of 20 year old Cameron Johnson, and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole by Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett. Goodwin was scheduled to go to trial in Glynn County on Tuesday, October 12.
On September 13, 2019, Goodwin was at a home on Ellis Street Lane in Brunswick. Also present were the victim and others, including a female that both Mr. Johnson and Mr. Goodwin had been in a relationship with. During the course of the evening, tensions rose between Goodwin and Johnson over the female in question. Both Goodwin and Johnson ended up outside the home where a mutual friend encouraged them to stop "beefing" over the girl and encouraged them to talk it out. Goodwin and Johnson then took a walk around the block before returning to the house. After seemingly making peace with one another, Goodwin suddenly pulled out a handgun and shot Johnson in the chest and ran off. Johnson was soon after pronounced dead at the hospital after suffering substantial blood loss. There were three eye witnesses to the shooting. All of them said the shooting was unprovoked in any way by Cameron Johnson.
At sentencing, Johnson's grandmother who had raised him, described the family's pain at the loss of Cameron, but stated that she forgave Goodwin. Goodwin also spoke during the hearing and apologized to Cameron Johnson's family.
At the time of the murder, Goodwin was on first offender probation for a prior Aggravated Assault. Besides receiving the life sentence for the murder, he was adjudicated guilty for the prior Aggravated Assault and sentenced to 20 years to run concurrent with his sentence in the murder case.
In Georgia, a defendant has to serve at least 30 years in prison before becoming eligible for parole.