![[Valid RSS]](https://web.archive.org/web/20240108205913im_/https://ocgnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/valid-rss-rogers.png "Validate my RSS feed")
DEKALB COUNTY, GA—DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston announced a conviction by jury trial in the case against Tyler Merritt, 23, of Decatur. He was sentenced to life for the murder of 50-year-old Wayne Cunningham.
Jurors found Merritt guilty on Dec. 19 on charges of Malice Murder, Felony Murder, Aggravated Assault, and Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony, stemming from the fatal shooting on January 26, 2020.
According to the investigation, officers with the DeKalb County Police Department responded shortly before 4:30 p.m. to a report of a person injured at a motel in the 2500 block of Wesley Chapel Road in unincorporated Decatur. When they arrived, police found Wayne Cunningham, 50, lying in the parking lot with multiple wounds. They later determined Cunningham had been shot twice. He did not survive.
Detectives reviewed video surveillance from the motel and determined the shooting happened inside one of the rooms on the third floor. The video showed Cunningham walking into the motel room with Defendant Merritt and three others shortly after 3:30 p.m. About 30 minutes later, Cunningham could be seen leaving the room in distress before collapsing in the parking lot. A group of people then left the room, covering their faces before getting into a stolen car and driving away from the scene.
Witnesses told police that Cunningham and Merritt had begun arguing just before the shooting.
Crime scene investigators recovered a 9mm shell casing from the motel room and a cigarette butt with Merritt’s DNA on it.
Merritt at another nearby hotel. While executing a search warrant in his room, officers recovered a gun that GBI testing later determined matched the 9mm casing found at the murder scene.
Immediately following the guilty verdicts, DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Brian Lake, who presided over the trial, sentenced Merritt to Life plus five years.
The case, assigned to the Homicide and Gangs Unit, was prosecuted by Chief Senior Assistant District Attorney Josh Geller with assistance from Senior Assistant District Attorney Darlene Childers, District Attorney Investigator Tiffany Edwards and Victim Advocate Kaysha Albritton. DeKalb County Police Department Det. McQuilkin led the initial investigation.