Man Convicted in 2011 Home Invasion Attack

Nov. 15, 2021 – A North Memphis man has been convicted on 22 felony counts, including rape and robbery, stemming from a 2011 home-invasion attack on six people in a Berclair-area residence, said Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich.

    A Criminal Court jury, which returned its verdict shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday, convicted Giorgio Lakeith Jennings on six counts of aggravated rape, five counts of aggravated robbery, three counts of aggravated assault, three counts of facilitation aggravated assault, three counts of aggravated kidnapping, one count of aggravated burglary, and one count of employment of a firearm in the commission of a dangerous felony.

     Jennings, 33, remains in custody and will be sentenced by Judge Chris Craft on Jan. 7, 2022. He faces more than 100 years in prison.

    The incident occurred on Jan. 17, 2011, in a home in the 4300 block of Owen Road in northeast Memphis when Jennings and two unidentified men armed with guns forced their way inside.

    Three women, ages 21 to 25, were sexually assaulted; two male victims, ages 21 and 26, were shot in their right hands; and a 25-year-old man was pistol whipped in the attack.

    The assailants stole items that included two video-game systems, various knives, a bow, a spear, and several medieval-type swords.

     Jennings was identified as a suspect by DNA and by some of the stolen property which was found in the bedroom of his home. An arrest warrant was issued for him in 2014. Jennings was arrested three years later in St. Louis where he was in jail on another crime.

     Jennings also has a sexual assault case pending in Las Vegas.

     The case here was handled by Asst. Dist. Attys. Abby Wallace and Leslie Byrd of the District Attorney’s Special Prosecution Unit 8 which seeks maximum sentencing for repeat felony offenders.