3 Men Who Stole SUV With Baby Inside Sentenced: Cobb DA

COBB COUNTY, GA — Three Atlanta men involved in the 2016 theft of a vehicle with a baby inside have been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to carjacking, kidnapping, and other charges, according to Cobb District Attorney Joyette M. Holmes.

On Friday, Cobb Superior Court Judge Robert Leonard sentenced Patrick Watson, Marquise Barnes, and Lamarcus Jackson in the case, in which all three had previously entered guilty pleas.

“As parents, our job is to protect our children. In one split second, these defendants took that ability away from a father and caused him so much pain as he could only chase his own vehicle as his infant was being taken away. Nothing will erase this nightmare —nothing,” said Senior Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Green, who prosecuted this case with Senior ADA Patricia Hull, who is now a Deputy Chief ADA.

On the evening of Sept. 6, 2016, prosecutors said a Jeep Grand Cherokee with a baby inside was stolen from the QuikTrip on South Cobb Drive at Cumberland Parkway in Smyrna. The owner of the Jeep was pumping gas when the suspect slid into his vehicle and drove off with the owner’s eight-month-old baby inside.

Smyrna police officers spotted the stolen Jeep, and a high-speed chase ensued, according to the district attorney's office. The chase ended when the Jeep crashed into a tree — causing the infant’s car seat to dislodge from its base. Officers located the infant still strapped in her car seat, which was upside down and wedged behind the driver’s seat. Miraculously, the baby girl was not seriously injured. Authorities said the driver then fled the scene on foot.

During the investigation, officers said they discovered that the suspect was working with four other people and that the carjacking from the QuikTrip was the culmination of a crime spree that started earlier that day.

Officers said they learned that the suspects had stolen a Toyota Camry in DeKalb County and driven it to Cobb County. While in Cobb, they noticed a woman driving a Mercedes E350 from Kroger and followed her home. One of the suspects ran up to the woman, pointed a black handgun at her, and demanded her keys. The woman gave up her keys, but the suspect was unable to start the car so he ran back to the stolen Camry with the woman’s car keys, and the five perpetrators fled the scene.

About 20 minutes later, prosecutors said they arrived at the QuikTrip in Smyrna. Surveillance video showed the stolen Camry pull up next to the Jeep Grand Cherokee, at which time a passenger exited the car and slid into the Jeep. Both the stolen Camry and Jeep fled the parking lot. The stolen Camry was also involved in the chase. As the Jeep crashed, the Camry came to a stop nearby and its occupants likewise fled.

Two occupants of the stolen Camry, Marquise Barnes and Lamarcus Jackson, were arrested shortly thereafter, and two more were arrested weeks later. Patrick Watson, the driver of the stolen Jeep and the gunman in the armed robbery of the Mercedes owner, was not identified until fall 2018.

After pleading guilty to armed robbery, hijacking a motor vehicle, robbery by sudden snatching, kidnapping a child under 14 years of age, and related offenses, prosecutors said Patrick Watson was sentenced on Friday to life, with the first 25 years to be served in confinement and the balance on probation.

Barnes and Jackson also received life sentences, with Barnes ordered to serve 17 years in custody and Jackson to serve 15 years in custody. Of the other two co-defendants, prosecutors said one was a juvenile and the other was sentenced as a first offender.

Det. Alexander of Smyrna Police and Det. Stockinger of Cobb Police investigated this case.