Judge Finds Silver Creek Man Not Guilty Of Armed Robbery Accusations

A Floyd County Superior Court judge found a Silver Creek man not guilty of armed robbery and assault charges Thursday after a bench trial.

Branton Kaden Hughes was originally convicted in 2022 for the November 2021 armed robbery of a truck driver on Maple Avenue and sentenced to life in prison. However, in January, that conviction was overturned and Hughes was granted a new trial.

Hughes’ attorney Thomas Michael Harris III with the Harris Law Firm, motioned for a bench trial, which was held on April 23 in Floyd County Superior Court. An order released on Thursday by Chief Judge John “Jack” Niedrach found Hughes not guilty of all the charges.

According to court filings and information presented in the case:

Hughes had been charged alongside a co-defendant, Tatiana Clifton. However, that case put a heavy reliance on Clifton’s testimony to link Hughes to the incident, court filings stated.

The accusation centered around the robbery of a long haul truck driver that Clifton often rode with. At some point, the driver contacted Clifton and said she needed to get her things because he was rolling out early that Monday.

She arrived and found her items scattered in the parking lot and testified that she and Hughes entered the truck and robbed the driver.

The truck driver told police he didn’t get a good look at who’d robbed him. However, after some internet sleuthing using Clifton’s Facebook page and her friend list, he found a photo of Hughes standing next to a car that he believed had been used as a getaway vehicle.

Rome police detectives followed up and arrested Hughes. Even during his arrest and subsequent conviction, Hughes maintained his innocence.