Warner Robins mayor Randy Toms, police chief Brett Evans, councilman Daron Lee and more than half dozen other city employees spent Tuesday in court.
They were in Houston County Magistrate Court for a pre-warrant hearing to determine whether there was probable cause to arrest city purchasing office employee Jean Williams for threats she allegedly made against councilman Daron Lee in July.
When the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and Houston County Sheriff's Office declined to take on the case, Lee tried to advance it on his own in magistrate court.
In court Tuesday, he said the alleged threats made him "concerned for (his) life and...safety."
In the hearing, city employee Felicia Wright testified to what she remembers Williams saying the night of a contentious July 9th city council meeting.
"She turned and she walked away saying...'let me get out of here before I shoot somebody,'" said Wright, describing Williams' comments as she remembered them.
Another city employee, Cedric Allen, testified that on the morning of July 10 Jean Williams reiterated her comments.
"The words were 'that was me, that was me but that’s not what I said. What I said was if I had a gun I’d shoot him right now,'" said Allen describing his memory of Williams' comments.
Councilman Daron Lee, representing himself. argued that those comments broke the law and should be viewed by the court as terroristic threats. But Jean Williams’ Attorney Debra Gomez used testimony from five different witnesses--including mayor Randy Toms, police chief Brett Evans, and human resources director Toni Graham--to argue that Williams’ comments were conditional (in other words, they used 'if'), were not made directly against Lee, and were not made with criminal intent.
"(Williams) said 'don't worry, I don't have a gun,'" said Toni Graham describing her recollection of an exchange she had with Williams following the alleged threat.
Ultimately, judge Laurens Lee agreed with Jean Williams’ attorney and did not sign a warrant for her arrest.
"We got a bunch of different people testifying, everybody has a gist of the comment but you know all of them are conditional," said Judge Lee.
However, he told Williams she owed Daron Lee an apology for the comments she made and scolded her for her actions.
"You really should know better than to make comments like this, this is really unacceptable and you know you just can’t do stuff like that," he said.
Williams approached Daron Lee after the judge reached his decision and apologized to him in the court room.
Outside the courthouse, Daron Lee said he "didn't necessarily agree" with the judge's decision, but he "accepted" it.
He added that he thought Jean Williams should still face internal discipline in the Warner Robins city government.
Williams said she was relieved the hearing was over and was hopeful she could return to work from administrative leave soon.