Before their family member’s murderer was sentenced in court, the brother of the late Justin Xiong of Eatonton stood before the presiding judge and attempted to find words to explain the anguish he and his family had experienced since Justin’s grisly death.
Xiong, age 29 at the time, was shot to death in June 2021 and then his body was dismembered with a chainsaw and disposed of behind a shed. The man responsible for the murder, Christopher Collins Demmon, 34, entered a guilty plea in Morgan County Superior Court on Thursday morning, Oct. 6.
Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge Amanda S. Petty sentenced Demmon to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
“My brother’s life is something we can’t get back,” Canon Xiong said as he stood before Judge Petty before the sentencing.
As he talked, Canon Xiong frequently paused to compose himself, but sometimes the sorrowful emotions came anyway.
“He was somebody that I looked up to,” Canon Xiong continued. “We’d get in trouble sometimes, but he was always there for me when I got in trouble. … Planning his funeral was one of the most horrible things I’ve ever done. Going through the photos…,” he stopped talking as he was again overcome with emotion.
Petty told him to take as much time as he needed; another family member sat off to the side with the victim’s advocate. He, too, was seen squeezing his eyes tightly shut and putting his hands over his face in an attempt to control his grief.
“It’s just something you don’t expect – for someone to be taken away,” Canon Xiong said.
“It’s similar to a spouse I guess, but this is someone I grew up with. I can’t call him anymore; I can’t pick up the phone to see how he’s doing. I guess what I’m getting at is…”. The remainder of his sentence was indiscernible to the newspaper reporter due to sobs breaking up the words. Evidently Judge Petty heard it, though.
“Mr. Xiong just said there’s nothing I can do to make this right again,” Petty said to Demmon when Xiong returned to his seat. “And unfortunately, he’s right. (Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Chief Public Defender) Mr. (John H.) Bradley said substance abuse is at the root of what happened. Substance abuse happens when you make poor choices. And it’s these poor choices that have affected your life and your friends, and unfortunately, affected this family. There’s nothing this court system can do to change that. This is why I tell young people who come before me to be careful because your actions have consequences.”
At the time of the murder, Justin Xiong and Demmon were working for the same employer in Hancock County and living in a house owned by that employer.
Justin was the first one to move into the brick house on Main Street in the small community of Hancock County known as Devereux. He had made an arrangement with the employer to live there in exchange for doing cleanup and repairs on the old house. Shortly after that, Demmon made the same arrangement and moved in. They had been there only two days that first week of June when, for reasons unknown, Demmon shot Xiong two times in the chest. In an attempt to cover up his crime, Demmon then retrieved a chainsaw from the back of Xiong’s Jeep, used it to dismember Xiong’s body, wrapped it in clear plastic and hid it behind a shed on the property.
When the two men did not show up for work the following week, the employer and landlord reportedly went to the house looking for them and discovered the body and called authorities.
Hancock County Sheriff’s Office called in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to assist with the case, and issued a BOLO for the yellow Jeep, which was missing from the scene.
In what could be called a strange turn of events, Eatonton Police Chief Howell Cardwell received a call from the Aiken, South Carolina Sheriff’s Office requesting Eatonton police officers go to a house on Bumgarner Drive in Eatonton because that was the address registered with the Jeep.
They wanted officers to talk to Xiong about his vehicle because they had confiscated it in a case there and it had a bloody chainsaw in the back of it. Cardwell said he knew of the GBI’s BOLO and about the discovery of the body, so he called the GBI and gave them the Aiken County, S.C. contact information. It was later reported that Demmon had parked the yellow Jeep sideways in a roadway in Aiken, blocking both lanes of traffic, and was walking around it, acting strangely. He was arrested for disorderly conduct in Aiken and later extradited to Hancock County.
At Thursday’s plea hearing, Bradley said Demmon did have a “fairly bad meth problem” in May-June 2021 and he was admitted several times to a medical facility in Milledgeville where it was determined that all of his mental health symptoms were meth-induced.
“The date of the incident and his arrest, he was obviously in a state of paranoia and psychosis,” Bradley said, noting that he had discussed with Demmon the idea of a mental illness defense, and also had explained to him that “life with the possibility of parole does not guarantee he’ll get parole.”
Advocating for his client, Bradley requested Judge Petty write in the sentencing that Demmon could be released to a transition center at some point during his incarceration. He said he was basing his request on Georgia Code 17-10-6.1.
“It says a sentence cannot be reduced by the Department of Corrections, but if he’s released and goes to a transition center, it would be better for everyone,” he said. “We understand if you write it in, that it would have no legal effect nor requires DOC to do that, we’re just asking for it to be written in.”
Hancock Assistant District Attorney Faith Worley objected to the request.
“Due to the severity of the case, he should serve life with no chance for release from prison,” she noted.
Petty asked Demmon many questions to ensure he understood his rights and options, including the right to a jury trial.
She also questioned him concerning his mental health and ability to understand what was being said in the courtroom. Demmon told her he was taking his mental illness medication and he understood everything, and he also said his medication did not prevent him from understanding or from making his decision to a plea bargain.
The presiding judge also made sure Demmon understood that he could request his hearing be held in Hancock County Superior Court at a later date, but he told her he was okay with it being held in Morgan County.
Worley said Demmon was charged with five counts – (1) malice murder, (2) felony murder, (3) aggravated assault, (4) tampering with evidence and (5) possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
“Mr. Demmon is pleading guilty to count 1,” she said. “In exchange for the plea, we are dismissing counts 2-5.”
Petty said she was not going to write in the possibility of an early release to a transition center. “For the guilty plea to count 1, malice murder, you will serve life with the possibility of parole, with credit for time already served dating back to June 2, 2021,” she said to Demmon. “You will serve the next 30 years in prison. Of course, a parole board has the right to release you and a lot of their decision depends on your behavior while in prison.”
As Demmon, who was wearing an orange Hancock County jail jumpsuit and handcuffed and shackled, was escorted from the courtroom, he looked straight at the Xiong family members and said, “I’m sorry for y’all’s loss.”