A Gwinnett County man will spend the rest of his life behind bars after a jury found him guilty in a 2024 parking lot killing outside an extended-stay hotel on Stone Mountain Highway.
On Tuesday, a judge sentenced Hugh Donovan Forman to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus five additional years, for the October shooting that left 60-year-old Victor Ricks dead behind the Budgetel Inn and Suites on Stone Mountain Highway.
The punishment of life without parole, plus five years, followed Forman's conviction on multiple counts, including murder and weapons offenses, according to FOX 5 Atlanta. The Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office outlined the outcome for reporters after the verdict and sentencing.
Charges and conviction
Prosecutors secured guilty verdicts on malice murder, felony murder, first-degree cruelty to children and related firearm charges. Those counts match the accusations initially filed following the October 11, 2024 shooting, as described in a Gwinnett County Police Department news release.
The shooting and arrest
Officers responded on October 11, 2024, to a 911 call at the rear parking lot of the Budgetel Inn and Suites at 4350 Stone Mountain Highway, where they found Ricks suffering from at least one gunshot wound. He was rushed to a hospital and later died of his injuries, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Gwinnett homicide detectives arrested Forman within days and charged him with malice murder and additional counts, per reporting by Atlanta News First. Investigators have said the two men knew each other before the shooting, though officials have not released any motive.
What’s next
With sentencing complete, the case has shifted fully into the punishment phase, but post-trial motions or an appeal still remain possible. Authorities have not publicly shared a motive for the killing, FOX 5 Atlanta noted, and Gwinnett County police have previously urged anyone with additional information to contact detectives.
Hoodline covered the early details of the case in October 2024 in our initial coverage of the killing, which summarized the first round of charges and the crime scene response based on information from Gwinnett police and local outlets while detectives continued their investigation.
