A local man pleaded not guilty to a 2019 murder on Hamilton Road in Columbus during Recorder's Court Tuesday morning.
Nicholas Montrell Lyle pleaded not guilty to fatally shooting Garrett McFarland, who was 53, in February of 2019.
Columbus Police Det. Robert Nicholas said video footage from a nearby dollar store showed an individual approach McFarland and open fire, killing him.
Nicholas said over a year later on Aug. 18, 2020 CPD received a letter supposedly from Lyle (who was locked up in Madison County jail in Huntsville, Alabama at the time) admitting to the crime.
Investigators were sent to Madison County jail where Lyle confessed to the crime again, according to Nicholas. He said Lyle was supposedly upset after receiving bad or fake drugs earlier that day at a "trap house" and reportedly said he was going to shoot the next person that walked down the street.
The case has been bound over to Superior Court.
