Background: Aaron White appears in Butts County court in Georgia (WSB/YouTube). Inset: Jason Maughon (Towaliga District Attorney's Office).
What was supposed to be a night of celebration and love at a Georgia wedding turned to tragedy when the groom shot the stepfather of the bride, and prosecutors believe he committed murder by doing so.
Aaron White, 33, was indicted by a Butts County grand jury for felony murder in the death of 44-year-old Jason Maughon, Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB reported. It was the second grand jury to review the case — after one in April 2025 chose not to indict.
White's arrest has resulted in a tense back-and-forth between the involved parties over whether White's use of his weapon — which he does not deny — was lawful.
What is undisputed is that the emotional scars from that summer 2024 night still loom large. "I just have to have faith the truth will come out eventually," the bride, Kailagh White, said.
The night was July 13, 2024, and Aaron White and Kailagh White were married at an outdoor ceremony in Georgia. However, as the night went on and the celebrations continued, things took a turn.
The bride reportedly told an inebriated relative to leave after she considered his behavior inappropriate. A tussle ensued, and the groom stepped in — but so, too, did Maughon.
The stepfather punched Aaron White in the face and knocked him to the ground, the groom told WSB. Maughon and the other relative left the area, but were quick to return. The relative is believed to have fired a gun, with a bullet striking Aaron White in the hand.
Maughon reportedly chased after the groom, but the younger man reached his truck and was "able to draw my weapon."
"And did what?" the outlet's investigative reporter Mark Winne asked.
"Defended myself and everybody else," Aaron White replied, responding in the affirmative when the journalist followed up with "You shot him?"
Following the shooting and Maughon being pronounced dead, the Towaliga District Attorney's Office decided to bring a felony murder charge against Aaron White on April 14, 2025, but a grand jury "determined there was a lack of evidence to indict," the DA's office announced. While the grand jury did reportedly indict him and others for aggravated assault, prosecutors later dismissed those charges.
District Attorney Jonathan Adams decided to bring the case to a second grand jury, a decision that has been welcomed by some — and condemned by others.
Butts County Sheriff Gary Long called the incident the "clearest case of self-defense that I have personally seen in 30 years of law enforcement."
"Justice will prevail for my son," Dan Maughon, the shooting victim's father, told the local outlet. "We're just gonna let the state of Georgia and the district attorney's office and all the law enforcement settle this thing."
Adams maintains that the case does not boil down to self-defense but rather the "lawful use" of deadly force.
"You better be right if you're gonna kill someone," he told WSB.
Aaron White's defense attorney, Bret Dunn, accused the district attorney of bringing the charge to another grand jury because he has political aspirations of wanting to be a judge. Adams countered that it is Dunn who has something to gain as he is a "defense attorney who's running for state senate."