Man accused of murdering his mother and running from the law now headed to state prison

ATLANTA - "He can sit in jail and rot, as far as I'm concerned," says Rob Merritt.

 After a year of waiting, Rob Merritt feels good that his brother has finally been transferred from a county jail to the state prison system.

 "I hope he never sees the light of day," says Merritt

In 2017, the FOX 5 I-Team investigated how more than a dozen victims said well-known Cobb County attorney Richard Merritt stole their settlement checks after handling their personal injury lawsuits.

"There is no excuse for my behavior. It shouldn't have happened," Richard Merritt said during the sentencing.

 In January of 2019, a Cobb County judge sentenced Merritt to 15 years in prison for stealing more than $454,706 from 17 different clients. But, Merritt was given two weeks to get his affairs in order.

Richard Merritt in Nashville, TN following his capture.

The day he was supposed to turn himself in, his mother cooked him his last family meal.  Then with plates still on the table, and pots on the stove, police believe Merritt brutally murdered her and then ran. 

The FOX 5 I-team was there soon after Merritt was caught by US Marshalls in Tennessee. He returned to DeKalb County jail where he has been since 2019.

"I was relentless in my pressure to Cobb County to do something," says Rob Merritt.

 Rob Merritt wanted his brother in prison for violating the terms of his Cobb County sentence. He says his brother was harassing him from jail, writing over 50 pushy, bulling postcards, and making hundreds of collect phone calls.

He says his brother constantly claimed he was innocent, asked for money, and urged Rob to help him.

"I was just getting so tired of these letters and these, it's just mental harassment is what it is," says Merritt.

 Jason Marbutt, the Cobb prosecutor in the case who was recently elected to be a Superior Court Judge, filed a motion to revoke Merritt's sentence for violating the terms of his probation.

 Merritt signed a consent order and didn’t' fight it. 

Richard Merritt will now serve 15 years for violating his probation on top of his 15 year sentence for theft and exploiting the elderly. He’ll serve it all in a state prison while he awaits trial for the murder of his mother.

A hard time ahead for Richard Merritt and his family.

"My mother loves Christmas, she was a big decorator, and a big baker, then those memories you know come forth. And, so yeah it's hard and you know you think about the way things could have been and the way things should have been," says Rob Merritt.

A DeKalb County district Attorney spokeswoman says DeKalb is ready to try Richard Merritt for the murder of his mother. But, due to the COVID pandemic, the Georgia Supreme Court has suspended all jury trials to February of next year, at the earliest.

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