Julian Lewis

Julian Edward Roosevelt Lewis, 60, a semi-retired carpenter, was shot in the face and killed by Georgia State Patrol Trooper Jacob Thompson on a rural road in Screven County, Georgia, on August 7, 2020, after Thompson tried to stop him over a broken taillight. When Lewis did not immediately stop, Thompson performed a PIT maneuver that forced his car into a ditch, then shot him once, unarmed, within about two seconds of getting out of his own patrol car. Thompson wrote in his report that Lewis had been revving his engine and turning the wheel as if trying to ram him — a claim a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent later testified was physically impossible, since the crash had disconnected Lewis's car battery, leaving the vehicle inoperable. Thompson was fired and charged with felony murder days later, but a Screven County grand jury declined to indict him in June 2021. No one has ever been convicted in Lewis's death.

Sylvania, GA · Screven County

• 2020: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The traffic stop for a broken taillight, the PIT maneuver, and the shooting, per the Georgia State Patrol's own incident report and subsequent Georgia Bureau of Investigation findings.
• A GBI agent testified that Thompson fired his weapon approximately two seconds after exiting his patrol car.
• Thompson's written account stated Lewis revved his engine and turned his wheel as if attempting to ram him; a GBI agent testified in court that this was impossible, since Lewis's car battery had disconnected when his vehicle hit the ditch, rendering it inoperable.
• Thompson, a 27-year-old white trooper who had joined the Georgia State Patrol in 2013, was fired and arrested on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault on August 14, 2020, one week after the shooting.
• A Screven County judge initially denied Thompson bail given "the factual circumstances of the case," though he was later released on $100,000 bond in December 2020.
• A 22-person Screven County grand jury declined to indict Thompson in June 2021, after hearing his own testimony — a practice Georgia law permits for current or former law enforcement — and considering Georgia's self-defense statutes.
• Following the grand jury's decision, Lewis's family and attorneys led a 63-mile march to Savannah, after which federal prosecutors announced they were examining the case "in consultation with the FBI"; no subsequent public announcement of federal charges has been reported.

• Whether Thompson perceived a genuine threat at the moment he fired, despite the GBI's finding that Lewis's account of the car's condition was physically impossible, was the central issue for the grand jury and was never resolved by any conviction.
• Why the grand jury declined to indict despite the GBI's own contradiction of Thompson's central justification has never been explained, since grand jury deliberations are sealed under Georgia law.
• Whether the Ogeechee Judicial Circuit District Attorney's office ever attempted to present the case to a second grand jury, and the ultimate outcome of the federal review opened after the family's march to Savannah, have not been consistently reported in later public sources.

• Wikipedia — “Killing of Julian Lewis” (sourced case history)
• WSAV-TV — “No indictment for former Georgia trooper in death of Julian Lewis”
• AP, via Yahoo News — “Feds 'examining' shooting of Black man by Georgia trooper”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs