A Clayton County jury is hearing testimony in the murder trial of a Georgia man accused of shooting his best friend of three decades during a dispute that prosecutors say began over $30 and ended near a cemetery with the victim dying in the road.
The defendant, Joe Link, is charged with malice murder, felony murder and aggravated assault in the Oct. 30, 2023, death of Coybern Jones Jr. Prosecutors say Link confronted Jones after meeting him to collect a small debt and retrieve a borrowed gun, then shot him and walked away. The defense says the gun discharged accidentally during a struggle and that Link panicked after the shot.
Opening statements and early testimony have centered on a short chain of events in Jonesboro that investigators say escalated quickly: a meeting at an Exxon station, a conflict over money and a firearm, and a drive that ended near Woodland Drive by a cemetery where police later found Jones dead. Jonesboro police have said Jones suffered a gunshot wound to the neck. Link was arrested a few days later and has pleaded not guilty, pushing the case toward a trial that is now unfolding in Clayton County Superior Court.
Assistant District Attorney Brianna Jordan told jurors that Link and Jones had been close for about 30 years and spent much of their time together, playing pool, cards and dominoes. Jordan said that friendship did not prevent violence when the dispute surfaced, and she urged the jury to focus on what she described as deliberate actions that led to the fatal shot. Prosecutors have said the argument was rooted in a loan and a borrowed weapon, and they have framed the confrontation as a choice, not a mishap.
Defense attorney Erin King presented a sharply different picture, describing the shooting as an accident involving an old handgun and a brief “tussle” over control of the weapon. King told the jury that the men were meeting so Jones could pay back $30 and return a gun Link had loaned him. King said the two struggled over the gun, it fired, and Link was left in shock, walking away without fully grasping what had happened. Prosecutors have said the evidence will show there was no struggle and that the shot was not accidental.
Detectives and witnesses have described the scene where Jones was found. Police said his body was discovered on the evening of Oct. 30, 2023, lying in or near the roadway close to a cemetery along Woodland Drive in Jonesboro. In court, Clayton County Detective Rico Madden described the recovery of the gun prosecutors say was used in the shooting, telling jurors it was found not far from Jones’ body. Madden said investigators measured the distance from the body to the firearm at 36 feet and that the gun was in front of a grave marker, a detail prosecutors have used to support their claim that Jones was shot and left near the cemetery.
Prosecutors have identified the weapon as a .22-caliber revolver, often described in court as a “Saturday night special,” and said jurors were shown the gun and a shell casing tied to the shot. The description matters because the defense is building its case around the age and mechanics of the firearm. A firearms examiner with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation testified that the revolver was manufactured before 1968. Under questioning from the defense, the examiner agreed that the gun could fire without force being applied to the trigger, a point the defense has raised to support its claim that the discharge could have occurred during a struggle rather than through an intentional pull.
At the center of the case is what happened at the Exxon station and in the minutes that followed. Prosecutors have said Link confronted Jones at the gas station before the shooting and followed him toward the cemetery area. In one version presented in local reporting, prosecutors have said Link approached Jones at the station with a pipe. The defense has disputed that, arguing there was no pipe confrontation and that the meeting was about settling the small debt and returning the gun. Those competing accounts are expected to be tested through witness testimony, any video evidence, and statements Link made to police.
Investigators have portrayed the shooting as an isolated incident rather than a broader public threat, but the personal nature of the case has made it especially painful for the victim’s family. Jones’ relatives have said they were stunned to learn the person charged with killing him was not a stranger but someone they knew and had been around. In interviews soon after Link’s arrest, Jones’ sister, Earva Jones Scott, said family members were searching for answers and struggling with the idea that a long friendship could end in violence. She described the men as familiar figures in each other’s lives and said the loss was compounded by the closeness of the relationship.
Family members have also described Jones as a disabled veteran who lived with post-traumatic stress disorder, and they have said he could have sudden outbursts but was not known as a violent person. In the aftermath of the killing, relatives placed flowers and an American flag at the location where he died, turning the roadside near the cemetery into a small memorial. The case drew added attention because Jones had been involved in local civic life, including helping a mayoral campaign in Jonesboro, according to public accounts shared by his family and local radio reporting.
The trial has brought the focus back to physical evidence and courtroom testimony rather than community reaction. Prosecutors have emphasized the gun’s recovery near the scene and the circumstances of the meeting. They have also highlighted Link’s decisions after the shot, arguing that leaving the victim behind and walking away points away from a purely accidental event. The defense has urged jurors to consider panic and shock, arguing that a man who had just experienced an unplanned discharge from an old gun could flee in confusion without intending harm.
One question hovering over the proceedings is how jurors will interpret the firearm testimony. The defense wants jurors to believe mechanical issues and a struggle made the discharge plausible without an intentional trigger pull. Prosecutors are expected to press the idea that even an older gun still requires handling choices that can lead to a fatal outcome, and they have said the evidence will show the shooting was not an accident. The mechanics may also matter because malice murder requires proof of intent, while other charges can turn on different mental states and circumstances. Jurors will be asked to weigh what the state proved beyond a reasonable doubt and whether the defense’s narrative creates reasonable doubt.
The case also turns on what happened to the gun after the shooting and why it ended up 36 feet from the body. Prosecutors have described that distance as consistent with a scene where the victim was left near the cemetery and the gun was not secured or surrendered to authorities. The defense, focused on chaos and shock, has not presented a detailed public explanation for the gun’s location beyond its broader claim of an accidental discharge and a sudden, disorienting aftermath. Testimony about the position of the gun, the shell casing, and any marks or conditions at the scene may shape jurors’ understanding of whether the encounter was a struggle, a confrontation, or something else.
As the trial moved forward this week, jurors also saw portions of Link’s police interrogation, according to local television reporting from the courtroom. The judge later questioned Link about whether he planned to testify, and Link told the court he would not take the stand in his own defense. Defendants are not required to testify, and juries are instructed not to hold that decision against them, but the choice means jurors will evaluate the defense’s account primarily through cross-examination of state witnesses, any defense witnesses, and the evidence introduced at trial.
Link’s age has been mentioned in coverage, with early reports describing him as 73 at the time of his arrest in 2023 and 75 during current trial coverage. In the Law&Crime account of the trial, Link was described as 78 in a courtroom setting, reflecting the way ages can appear inconsistently across reports depending on when a detail was recorded. Court records and official filings typically provide the most precise age information, but the core allegations are tied to actions in 2023 and the testimony being presented now in 2026.
For Clayton County prosecutors, the case is being framed as a simple but serious dispute that became lethal. Jordan has said the two men met to settle money and return a gun, but the encounter escalated until one of them was dead. The state’s argument is expected to focus on opportunity, motive tied to the debt and firearm, and the choice to shoot and leave the victim. Prosecutors may also use any witness accounts from the gas station, the roadway, or people who saw the men that day to establish a clear timeline.
The defense, meanwhile, has leaned into the idea that a friendship of 30 years makes an intentional killing less likely and that the weapon’s age and design make an accidental discharge plausible. King has pointed to the firearms examiner’s testimony that the revolver could fire without the trigger being pulled and has argued that a brief struggle over a borrowed gun can explain the shot without proving malice. The defense has also suggested that Link’s actions after the shooting were driven by shock rather than calculated guilt.
Many details remain contested in the public record, including what was said in the Exxon station, whether there was a pipe or other object involved, and whether the men physically struggled. Investigators have said the dispute began at the gas station and ended near the cemetery, but the exact movements between those points are likely to be a major focus as witnesses are questioned and as any surveillance footage, phone data, or other records are introduced. Jurors are also expected to hear more about Jones’ injuries and the medical findings that confirm how the neck wound caused his death.
The legal stakes are high. Malice murder and felony murder carry the possibility of life imprisonment in Georgia, and aggravated assault adds an additional serious felony count. Even if jurors reject an intentional murder theory, they could still consider whether other offenses apply depending on the evidence and the judge’s instructions. The courtroom battle is therefore not only about what happened but also about how the law fits a confrontation involving an old gun, a claimed struggle, and a fatal outcome.
Closing arguments were expected Friday, with the jury set to begin deliberations afterward, according to local television reporting from the courthouse. Until a verdict is reached, Link remains presumed innocent, and prosecutors must convince jurors that the shooting was not an accident but a crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
Author note: Last updated February 27, 2026.