Crime & Safety

Life Sentences for Murder of Smyrna Teacher

Cobb County jury convicted men of the 2009 murder of a Chattahoochee Tech instructor, Joseph Gunn.

Two men were sentenced to life in prison Friday for their convictions on multiple felonies, including the 2009 killing of a Smyrna college professor.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that a Cobb County jury convicted the men of the June 2009 murder of a Chattahoochee Tech instructor, Joseph Gunn.

Matthew Wells was sentenced to life plus 15 years, and Curtis Billings was sentenced to life without parole plus 35 years.

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On June 21, 2009 outside his Smyrna condo, Gunn, who taught in the automotive and water sports repair department at Chattahoochee Tech, confronted Wells, then 18, and the 30-year-old Billings, as they were breaking into his truck parked outside his Smyrna townhome.

Gunn, 54 at the time, was shot and killed after confronting the thieves and Wells and Billings fled with Gunn’s .38 caliber revolver.

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They then used the same gun the following month in a shoot-out with Clark-Atlanta University police and that’s how police connected them to Gunn’s death.


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