The state’s high court upheld a murder conviction and subsequent sentence arising out of the 2017 murder of Courtney Wells in Effingham County.
27-year-old Wells was found deceased on a remote dirt road in Effingham County in January 2017, suffering from gunshot wounds to the head, neck, torso, and upper extremities. Along with her body and belongings was a letter with her name on it with the home address of Scott Pinholster, a man with whom Wells had been in a romantic relationship.
Wells stayed with another individual, Tony Arnsdorff, after an argument with Pinholster, but when Arnsdorff tried to take Wells back to Pinholster, she left. Pinholster and Arnsdorff later located Wells and a confrontation followed, resulting in Arnsdorff striking Wells and Pinholster shooting her with a shotgun multiple times. Arnsdorff helped move Wells’s body and initially lied to the police about his knowledge of the crime.
Interviews, search warrants, and a subsequent investigation led investigators with the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office to arrest Pinholster, who was indicted by a Grand Jury in March of 2017. Tony Arnsdorff was later arrested for his role in the crime.
In March 2018, an Effingham County Grand Jury returned a True Bill of Indictment for Arnsdorff and Pinholster on a number of charges, including malice murder (Count 1), felony murder (Counts 2, 3), aggravated assault (Counts 4, 5), aggravated battery (Count 6), possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony (Counts 7-9), and concealing the death of another (Count 10). Arnsdorff was also charged with tampering with evidence.
Arnsdorff was tried in September 2019 and an Effingham County jury found him guilty on all charges. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the malice murder charge.
He then received:
- 10 years to serve for concealing a death of another (consecutive)
- 5 years to serve for possession of a firearm during commission of a felony (consecutive)
- 5 years to serve for tampering with evidence (concurrent)
He sought a new trial, which was denied by Superior Court Judge F. Gates Peed. Arnsdorff also contended that the evidence was not sufficient to prove that he caused Wells’ death or that he was a party to Pinholster’s crimes, specifically the murder. His argument was that he was ‘merely present during the shooting.’ Further, he argued he should have been sentenced for misdemeanor Tampering with Evidence, not felony Tampering with Evidence. After a number of procedural issues, Arnsdorff appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court.
Pinholster was also tried in Effingham County, represented by defense attorney Sims Lanier, and found guilty on all charges. Following the guilty verdicts, Judge F. Gates Peed sentenced Pinholster to life without parole plus 15 years to be served consecutively. Pinholster was killed in prison in February 2022. His case was also in the appeals process at the time of his death.
This week, the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the trial court’s denial of a motion for a new trial for Arnsdorff. Notably, the Supreme Court found that:
- Arnsdorff’s conduct before, during, and after Wells was shot was constitutionally sufficient to show he was a party to the crimes of malice murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.
- “The evidence at trial was sufficient to support the jury’s finding that Arnsdorff was guilty of malice murder. The required criminal intent for malice murder — whether the defendant directly committed the crime or was a party to another’s direct commission — is malice, which incorporates the intent to kill. And although presence alone is not enough to convict someone of a crime, a defendant’s “presence, companionship, and conduct before, during, and after” the crime may authorize the jury to reasonably infer he shared the criminal intent of the person who directly committed the crime. Here, the evidence at trial showed that both Arnsdorff and Pinholster had argued with Wells in the days before she was killed. There was also evidence that, while Pinholster directly communicated with and arranged to meet Wells on the night he shot her, Pinholster also remained in continuous contact with Arnsdorff as he made those arrangements.”
- The Court also noted the fact that Arnsdorff hid in the backseat of the truck with the shotgun while Pinholster was driving Wells to the remote location.The same evidence was used to support the Possession of a Firearm During Commission of a Felony charge.
- Because Arnsdorff tampered with evidence to assist with preventing the apprehension of Scott Pinholster – and not just himself- by mooving Wells’ body and destroying her cell phone, he could not be convicted and/or sentenced on a misdemeanor level.
Considering those factors, Arnsdorff’s conviction and sentence was upheld.
