MACON, Ga. — A man accused of shooting and killing one Macon man and hurting another is out on bond. The family of the man he's accused of killing didn't even know he was back on the streets.
Khalil Raines bailed out March 4, according to jail records, but Shawn Watts Sr. says he didn't know until this week--three weeks later--that the man accused of killing his son is out of jail and on the streets.
It was four months ago that a Georgia State Trooper chopper hovered over Macon's Pleasant Hill neighborhood, and investigators scoured the woods. Authorities were searching for who killed Watts' son, 24-year-old Shawn Watts Jr.
Watts left behind two children--a son and a daughter.
Now, the man accused of killing him, Khalil Raines, is already out on bond.
"It pains me that he can be home free with his family. My son can't be with his kids," Watts said.
Judge Bryant Culpepper signed off on a $75,000 bond for Raines.
By law, it's required because the District Attorney's office did not present the case to a grand jury for indictment within the required 90 days.
"The bond was not set high enough. First of all, it should have never been set," Watts said.
The District Attorney claims they couldn't indict because evidence needed to present the case never got turned over from the Sheriff's Office to the GBI Crime Lab.
The DA says the Sheriff's Office held onto that evidence from November 2021, when Watts was murdered, to now.
But the judge who signed the order says generally there should already be enough evidence to indict.
"If you have enough evidence to arrest them, you should have enough evidence to indict. If you don't have enough evidence to indict them, you should just let them go," Judge Culpepper told 13WMAZ.
The Sheriff's Office says they're looking into the DA's concerns, but they will hand deliver the evidence Monday morning.
"I'm very disappointed in the District Attorney, the head District Attorney," Watts told 13WMAZ. "I voted for her. Not pleased of the job being done by her. I'll go on record saying that. The sheriff of Bibb County. Not pleased with him for the job he's doing. I understand they're short-staffed, but what can you do to fix that?"
The bond order says Raines must wear an ankle monitor and can have no contact with the victim's family or witnesses in the case.
Also, when Watts was murdered in November 2021, Raines was out on bond. Two months before, in September 2021, Raines was arrested for allegedly leading deputies on a chase and having a stolen gun and marijuana.
District Attorney's full statement:
Khalil Raines was arrested for Malice Murder on November 16, 2021. As of January 7, 2022, essential evidentiary items collected by the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office and needed for prosecutorial evaluation had not yet been sent to the GBI Crime Lab for testing. On that date, the District Attorney’s Office requested via email to the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office that certain specific items be sent off for testing. As of March 24, 2022, the items had still not yet been received by the GBI crime lab, and, after inquiry by DA Howard, Bibb County SO command staff communicated that the items would be taken to the GBI crime lab immediately. If, in the interests of justice, it is not appropriate for a case to be presented to a grand jury within ninety days, it is the duty of a Bibb County Superior Court Judge to set a bond, taking into account any public safety issues in relation to the Defendant and the crime; the Defendant’s likelihood of reoffending, and the Defendant’s likelihood of returning to court as required.
As stated previously by this Office, “we will not jeopardize justice, and the blanket arbitrary deadline does not take into account the complexities of facts in individual cases.”
Our Office has complied with all noticing aspects of the Crime Victim’s Bill of Rights (O.C.G.A. § 17-17-1 et seq), as it relates to this case.