Detroit Woman Convicted Of Killing Georgia Store Clerk Seeks New Trial
DALTON, Ga. (WWJ/AP) - A woman convicted of murder in the killing of a northwest Georgia store clerk is seeking a new trial.
Skyy Mims was scheduled to be in court Friday in Whitfield County, but the hearing was pushed back to December because the transcripts for the original trial, which took place back in May, are not completed, according to a report in The Dalton Daily Citizen.
An official with the public defender's office, which is representing Mims, declined to say why she's seeking a new trial.
Mims, an aspiring model, dancer and rapper from Detroit, is accused of stabbing Dayahbhai Kalidas Chaudhari to death in Whitfield County on March 9, 2014. Investigators have said Mims, then 21-years-old, attacked Chaudhari before fleeing the store with lottery tickets and cash.
Mims was given a life sentence without parole. Attorney Carla Marable, who represented Mims during the trial, argued that she had mental illness and should have a chance for parole.
Chaudhari was working at the Hi-Tech Fuel gas station in the Dalton, Ga. area when he was killed. He was found in a pool of blood, with his mouth and eyes duct-taped shut.
Mark Rogers, who found Chaudhari dead on the floor, called 911 around 12:30 a.m. and told operators that change was scattered behind the cash register.
Charles David Branson, another customer who was in the store earlier that night around 11:15 p.m., told police he heard what sounded like an argument between the clerk and a woman who identified herself as the man's wife.
Branson told The Chattanooga Times Free Press that he first saw a smiling Chaudhari behind the counter, but his eyes were red as if he had been crying. Then, the clerk disappeared and Branson waited for at least 10 minutes. After using the restroom, where he thought he heard an argument involving a man and a woman, Branson said he went to the counter and saw a woman behind it.
Branson said the woman was wearing a white sweatshirt with the hood pulled tight and blue sunglasses so big they covered most of her face, so that all he could see was her nose, mouth and chin. Branson told police the woman claimed to be the clerk's wife, and yelled at him that he had to leave and the store was closing early. Just over an hour later, Chaudhari's body was discovered.
Two days later, police tracked Mims to a Bartow County residence where she was hiding out. Mims apparently tried flee when officers arrived, but was quickly apprehended. According to reports, police found a Kia Soul outside of the residence that matched the description of a stolen car from Michigan.
A medical examiner said Chaudhari died from a single stab wound to the back. The killing was captured on a store surveillance camera, which was turned over to investigators. Police have said Mims and Chaudhari did not know each other. Mims' cellphone was found on the scene next to the man's body and investigators found additional evidence linking her to the scene when she was arrested.
According to reports, shortly after the killing, Mims updated her social media accounts with a one word status: knowledge.
Mims, whose last known address is in Detroit, was visiting Atlanta frequently to try to break into the music scene there, according to her friend, Ibrahim Max.
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