He was named "III" after his older brother Ralph David Abernathy Jr. who died in infancy.
He received his bachelor's degree in English and Linguistics from Morehouse College in 1981.
In 1997, Abernathy was indicted and convicted of smuggling marijuana into the United States from Jamaica, forgery, making a false statement, and witness tampering.
[1][2] In 1999, he was convicted of defrauding the state of Georgia of thousands of dollars in expense money, numerous counts of theft, forgery and tampering with a witness.
Abernathy died of cancer in Atlanta, Georgia on March 17, 2016, two days before his 57th birthday.