DUBLIN, Ga. — Editor's Note: The video in this story is 13WMAZ's original report on the case
Raekwon Pauldo, of Dublin, was charged with murdering a friend two years ago after an argument about forgiveness and the Bible.
Now, Georgia's Supreme Court will decide whether to throw out a confession he allegedly made to a police detective.
The state supreme court is scheduled to hear arguments in the case Thursday in Atlanta.
In October 2017, Dublin police charged Pauldo with murdering Jacquel Smith.
Police say Pauldo drove his friend to the hospital and said somebody else shot him.
When police questioned Pauldo, according to court documents, Pauldo said he wanted an attorney.
Detective John Knight then told him they planned to test Pauldo for gunshot residue to prove whether or not he was the shooter.
That's when Pauldo allegedly said he wanted to talk to police and signed a statement waiving his right to have an attorney present.
In a court hearing this summer, Pauldo's lawyers argued that police should have stopped questioning him.
They asked the trial judge to throw out his statements. The judge agreed.
But District Attorney Craig Fraser argued that Knight's question about the gunshot-residue test was just evidence gathering, not part of the interview.
They're challenging the judge's ruling and asking the state supreme court to put Pauldo's confession back into the case.
But defense lawyers argue that Knight's question about the test was aimed at goading Pauldo into an incriminating statement.
That hearing is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Thursday in Atlanta.
No trial date has been set for Pauldo.
In 2017, Dublin Police Chief Tim Chatman said the two men were arguing about "stuff that didn't make any sense."
Chatman said, "At one point in time, they were arguing over the Bible, about forgiveness, and then that turned to something else... It went from 0 to 100 in a matter of seconds over nothing."
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