Trial of Richard Merritt, fugitive lawyer accused of murdering mother, postponed
May 21—Richard Merritt, the Smyrna lawyer who spent eight months on the run after allegedly beating and stabbing his mother to death, was set to be tried on murder charges next week.
The trial has now been continued for a later date, Yvette Jones, spokesperson for the DeKalb County district attorney's office, said Friday afternoon.
Three years ago, Merritt was due to spend 15 years behind bars for stealing hundreds of thousands in settlement money from his clients — clients who, on the stand, called him a "con man" and a "mendacious scoundrel." The attorney pleaded guilty to 34 criminal charges, begging Cobb Superior Court Judge Robert Flournoy for time to get his affairs in order.
Flournoy acquiesced. But on the agreed-upon date when he was to report to jail — Feb. 1, 2019 — Merritt was nowhere to be found.
Within the hour, the district attorney's office determined Merritt had cut off his ankle monitor. He was now a fugitive.
The next day, Merritt's mother Shirley Merritt, 77, was found dead in her Stone Mountain home. Police said she'd been beaten with a dumbbell and stabbed multiple times. Richard Merritt's car was in the driveway; Shirley Merritt's Lexus was gone.
Save for appearing on surveillance footage at a Cartersville gas station shortly after the alleged murder, Merritt wouldn't be seen again for eight months when he was captured in Nashville. Investigators happened upon the stolen Lexus while investigating a string of robberies.
Once confronted inside a store by officers and asked to identify himself, Merritt simply replied, "You know who I am," local agents said.
Shortly after Merritt's capture, then-Cobb District Attorney Joyette Holmes said the 15 years of probation Merritt was given would be converted to prison time, upping his sentence to 30 years.
He will face charges in DeKalb County Superior Court of aggravated assault, murder, and possession of a deadly weapon while committing a felony, court records show. He is being represented by Daryl Queen, an attorney with DeKalb County's Public Defender's Office.
A new date for the trial has not been set.
