ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A 61-year-old Atlanta man will spend the rest of his life in prison after being sentenced for his role in multiple aggravated and sexual assaults.

Jeffery Briney was sentenced to eight life terms plus 185 years after being convicted last month on several counts of rape, armed robbery and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

In March 2024, a DeKalb County grand jury indicted Jeffrey Briney on four counts of rape, seven counts of kidnapping, one count of aggravated sodomy, two counts of armed robbery, five counts of criminal attempt to commit armed robbery, seven counts of aggravated assault, three counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and one count of possession of a firearm by a first offender probationer.

Jeffrey Briney was charged in connection with two separate home invasion rape cases in DeKalb County in 1986.

His brother, David Briney, now 64, is facing two counts of rape, five counts of kidnapping, five counts of criminal attempt to commit armed robbery, five counts of aggravated assault and two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

On March 28, 1986, police said four men pushed their way into an apartment on Briarwood Road around 9:45 p.m.

The suspects held five college students at gunpoint, tied them up and raped two young women before ransacking the apartment.

On Oct. 27, 1986, two men with a handgun forced their way into an apartment in the 3000 block of Buford Highway. The assailants raped both women who lived there and then tied them up and left with their valuables.

DeKalb County prosecutors said the cases went cold until 2023, when the Georgia Bureau of Investigation sent the rape kits to a private lab for testing.

Prosecutors said in June 2023, DNA collected from one of the Briarwood rape victims came back with a Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) match to Jeffrey Briney. The DNA also matched that of one of the attackers in the Buford Highway case. The two crime scenes are less than a mile apart.

In August 2023, DNA collected from the other Briarwood rape victim returned a CODIS match to David Briney, police said. That DNA also tied David Briney to seven other cases, including one in Cobb County and six in Fulton County, prosecutors said.

Law enforcement officials said David and Jeffrey Briney were identified through the investigative work of the Georgia Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Task Force. The task force was established in 2018 in partnership with the Georgia Criminal Justice Coordinating Council as part of a multi-year, multi-million dollar federal grant under the National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative.

DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Tangela Barrie, who presided over the trial, heard from all four of the women who survived the attacks.

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