The jury convicted Stanley Nathaniel Elliott on murder, assault and firearm charges.
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. — Gwinnett County prosecutors secured a life sentence for Stanley Nathaniel Elliott after telling jurors he killed Anthony Collins during a neighborhood dispute that had centered on Collins’ Jack Russell puppies.
The verdict brought an end in trial court to a case that began with a 2021 police response on Riverside Parkway. Elliott, 75, was found guilty of felony murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. The judge sentenced him to life in prison with the possibility of parole and added five years for the firearm count. Prosecutors said the case showed how a minor neighborhood conflict escalated into a fatal shooting.
Assistant District Attorney Nam Nguyen and Deputy Chief Assistant District Attorney Ryan Smith prosecuted the case, with support from Investigator Benjamin Lucas and Victim Witness Advocate Trina Bradford. The district attorney’s office also credited Gwinnett County police, whose work began at the scene where Collins, 44, was found dead near his car. The trial record presented to jurors included surveillance footage, testimony about an earlier confrontation and the discovery of the gun that prosecutors said was used to kill Collins.
The earlier confrontation became a key part of the state’s story. Witnesses testified that in December 2020, Elliott tried to hit Collins’ puppies with a metal rod. They said he used the rod to ward off stray dogs. Prosecutors connected that testimony to the later shooting on Feb. 25, 2021, when Collins was again walking the puppies. The state’s theory was not that the men met as strangers. It was that jurors should view the shooting against the backdrop of a prior dispute over the same animals.
On the day Collins died, he was walking the dogs in a Lawrenceville neighborhood near a popular dog park. Police were called to Riverside Parkway and found him with a gunshot wound. Early reports said officers searched for a man known to walk in the area while carrying a large stick or pole. The search soon led to Elliott, who was arrested after investigators spoke with him. Public reports describe the fatal exchange as short, and officials have not released the full words spoken before the shot.
Video evidence helped prosecutors bridge the gap between the scene and Elliott. Jurors saw footage that prosecutors said showed a man resembling Elliott raising his arm after a short interaction with a man walking dogs. The video was paired with witness testimony and the history of the December 2020 incident. Together, those pieces allowed the state to argue that the person seen in the recording was not an unknown passerby but the same neighbor who had previously clashed with Collins over the puppies. The firearm evidence gave the prosecution another anchor. Police found the gun used in the killing hidden inside a motorboat in Elliott’s garage, prosecutors said. That fact placed the weapon at Elliott’s home after the shooting and supported the separate gun charge. It also gave jurors a physical object tied to the death, beyond witness memories and surveillance images. Public accounts do not say whether Elliott testified at trial or what defense arguments were made about the gun’s location.
Gwinnett County District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said the conviction should stand as a response to deadly force used in a dispute. “Violence, and especially deadly violence, is not the answer for solving any dispute,” Austin-Gatson said. She added that prosecutors hoped the result gave Collins’ loved ones a measure of closure and a sense that justice had prevailed. Her statement framed the case around consequence: Collins lost his life, and Elliott now faces a life term because jurors accepted the state’s account.
The legal result also shows how the charges worked together. The felony murder conviction rested on an underlying felony, the aggravated assault. The firearm charge added a separate punishment because prosecutors said Elliott used a gun during the crime. The judge’s sentence, life with parole possible plus five years, leaves parole eligibility to state rules and future review. The public record does not yet show whether Elliott will seek a new trial or appeal the conviction.
Collins’ death was investigated from the start as a shooting tied to a public neighborhood space. He was found near his car in a parking area, and police soon focused on video from the surrounding area. The facts that later emerged at trial gave the case its unusual shape: Jack Russell puppies, a metal rod months earlier, a short outdoor encounter and a weapon hidden in a boat. None of the public reports said the puppies were harmed during the fatal shooting.
The case now moves from trial and sentencing into the post-conviction stage. Elliott remains sentenced to life with the possibility of parole plus five years. Any next milestone would come through a post-trial filing, an appeal notice or a state corrections update after the sentence is processed.
Author note: Last updated June 1, 2026.