MACON, Ga. — Frank Tolbert spent three years in the Bibb County jail for a crime that a judge said it didn't look like he even committed, court records show.
Tolbert was arrested in 2019 on murder charges, with investigators claiming he killed 23-year-old Eric Broomfield, who was found dead in a car off Napier Avenue.
But after spending three years in jail, Bibb County Superior Court Judge Howard Simms released Tolbert in December 2023, saying no evidence was found that Tolbert committed the crime.
In fact, he said, the evidence all pointed to Tolbert being completely innocent.
"He's been sitting in jail for three years on a case that, as we sit here today, it is likely he didn't commit," Simms said.
Tolbert is free now, but says nothing has been done about the time he lost in jail, to clear his name or help him rebuild his life.
"For me to try and help someone but get locked up for murder, that was wrong; That's when my whole world turned upside down," Tolbert said.
On the morning of Dec. 1, 2019, Tolbert says he saw a man slumped down and bleeding inside a car on an alleyway off Winton Avenue. That's off of Napier Avenue.
The Bibb County Sheriff's Office says the man was 23-year-old Eric Broomfield who died from a gunshot wound to the neck.
"I don't know if he drunk or, had a stroke or, just hypothetically speaking, but I'm going to call the police and see if I can get him some help if I can't wake him up," Tolbert said.
He says he was being a good Samaritan, but then, he became a suspect him Broomfield's murder.
He was arrested about eight weeks later along with a woman named Noel Adams. Tolbert says he knew Adams through a mutual friend. She reportedly told investigators that she and Tolbert robbed Broomfield and shot him.
He says he still has no idea why she would say that. Adams and Tolbert were both charged with felony murder and robbery by force.
Tolbert says it was the start of his three-year nightmare in jail.
"I'm in the bed and two rats just in the bed with me literally crawling on., me and I'm feeling something on me, thinking it's me. When I pulled the blanket back, and its two mice on me really three, but one was dead," Tolbert said.
Everything changed again at a 2023 court hearing where Tolbert's lawyer asked Judge Howard Simms to reduce his bond and prosecutor Tony May opposed that.
According to court transcripts, May admitted that much of what Noel Adams told investigators was false. He said DNA evidence and hair samples pointed to other people, not Tolbert.
"Well, Mr. May, you've got a case where it's as likely as not -- well, actually, it's more likely that somebody else did this killing than the defendant standing in front of me, based on the evidence you've got right now," Simms said.
May said a tipster named two other men who killed Broomfield.
The judge said the evidence seemed to clear Tolbert.
"So, as I understand it, the only evidence against Ms. Tolbert -- Mr. Tolbert is from the co-defendant, who we know indisputably has been untruthful," Simms said.
After the prosecutor asked to keep Tolbert locked up as they continued to look into the case, Simms said that wasn't going to happen.
"I'm not going to keep somebody in jail who's likely not guilty, so that we can investigate a case that's three years old, that should have been investigated three years ago," Simms said.
District Attorney Anita Howard told us her policy is to always oppose bond for accused killers.
She also cited Tolbert's record which includes several convictions including DUI and violation of probation.
"He has 35 cycles including this case. That means there have been over 30 arrests. There are two felony convictions," Howard said.
Two months after Simms set Tolbert free, Howard's office moved the case to the dead docket. That means the case won't move forward but the charges haven't been dropped.
Howard says Tolbert remains a suspect.
"We have a confession from the codefendant, and we have corroborating evidence and that is why at this time Mr. Tolbert is not excluded as a suspect and this case is still pending," Howard said.
But in the bond hearing, Judge Simms scoffed at Adams' statements being used to show Tolbert did the crime.
"Any lawyer with any sense at all would destroy this confession that the co-defendant (Adams) made because so much of it has been proven to be untrue," Simms said.
Tolbert says he's been living a clean life since being released.
"I'm doing fine. I done got married, got my wife and she's a saint," Tolbert said.
He still hopes to get justice and compensation to make good on the pain that he went through.
"For them to have me locked up in jail and treated the way I was treated. That was unsanitary, period. And basically, I want my name cleared and I feel like they should pay me for anything that I have been through because I lost everything at the time," Tolbert said.