Murder charges dismissed for 2nd defendant in 2022 Arden-area Shell gas station shootings

Ryley Ober, Asheville Citizen Times
·2 min read

ASHEVILLE — Two first-degree murder charges have been dropped for a second suspect in the shooting deaths of two people at a Fletcher gas station in December 2022.

Following a week-long trial in Buncombe County Superior Court where Godiet Corral, 33, was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Sandy Elizabeth Torrey and Bryan Emmanuel Khopkar, Cody Wayne Dockins was cleared of first-degree murder charges for which he spent about a year-and-a- half in jail.

Buncombe County Chief Public Defender Sam Snead, Dockins' attorney, told the Citizen Times March 22 that Dockins' charges were dismissed "immediately following the verdict" on March 12.

The Buncombe County Sheriff's Office Dec. 19 is investigating the deaths of two people at a gas station on Mills Gap Road.
The Buncombe County Sheriff's Office Dec. 19 is investigating the deaths of two people at a gas station on Mills Gap Road.

Dockins' testified in Corral's trial March 5 that he witnessed Corral shoot both Torrey and Khopkar in a brown Volvo parked at a Shell-brand gas station on Mills Gap Road in Arden, after an argument broke out in the car on Dec. 19, 2022.

Snead said they didn't have an agreement with the district attorney's office that Dockins' charges would be dismissed, but they anticipated that might be the outcome.

More: Murder trial underway for Arden gas station double homicide; codefendant testifies

"I told Cody that we can feel pretty good about the case if (Corral) is convicted," Snead said. "(Corral) testified that he shot them both and he was convicted of first-degree murder on both of them."

Dockins pleaded guilty March 20 to unrelated property crimes predating the shooting in 2021 and 2022. He was originally charged with two counts of breaking and entering a motor vehicle, misdemeanor larceny and felony possession of stolen property.

Dockins pleaded to misdemeanors for those charges and was given time served for the roughly 500 days he spent in jail for the dropped murder charges, Snead said.

He is currently being held in the Buncombe County Detention Facility for unserved warrants from 2022 out of Henderson County.

More: Trial update: Hendersonville man guilty of double murder, sentenced to life in prison

Ryley Ober is the Public Safety Reporter for Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at rober@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter @ryleyober

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Buncombe County man's murder charges dropped in 2022 double shootings