WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — Warner Robins development director Gary Lee will not be headed to jail after a hearing Thursday to discuss revoking his bond.
13WMAZ initially reported Tuesday that in a motion filed last month in superior court, DA George Hartwig claimed that Lee violated his bond.
In March, a Houston grand jury indicted Lee on two counts of falsely reporting a crime and one count of making a false statement. After he was arrested, his bond order said Lee could not have any contact with city employee Kimberly Black.
Hartwig's motion said Lee violated his bond by having contact with Black and discussing "non-essential matters." Lee is Black's supervisor. Hartwig wrote that he wants to hold Lee in custody until his trial, to prevent him from committing further crime and tampering with witnesses.
Lee's lawyers filed their own motion in the case, asking a Houston County judge to modify his bond. That motion said Lee and city officials have tried to reduce contact between the two, but that some contact can't be avoided.
At Thursday’s hearing, Kimberly Black, Tim Thomas, Keith Lauritsen and Warner Robins Police Department Sgt. Julius Wilcox were called to testify.
Hartwig referred to Black as a "key witness" in Lee’s forthcoming felony trial, and two audio recordings of a conversation between Lee and Black were played that Black recorded on her phone in October. He argued that contact violated Lee's bond conditions, and was cause to revoke that bond and jail him pending his criminal trial.
One of those recordings, according to Black, was an invitation to see the new development department office near city hall.
The other, she said, involved a potential business trip to Alabama.
"It's the retail academy," Lee can be heard saying to her on the recording played in courtr. "We're going to fly to it."
She testified the content of those recordings made her “scared.”
Both Thomas and Lauritsen said they didn’t feel that Lee was a threat to anyone.
On the witness stand, Black made it clear she doesn't want Lee's bond conditions modified.
"The stipulation (that we have no contact) is the only thing that protects me at work or makes me feel safe or protected at work," she testified.
Lee's defense attorneys saw things differently, and argued that, as Black's supervisor, some contact with her was inevitable.
"They were chance encounters at City Hall where Mr. Gary Lee works (and) where Ms. Black works," said defense attorney Charles Cox.
Judge Bo Adams agreed those taped conversations and a series of emails between Lee, Black, and other city officials clearly violated the terms of Lee’s bond, however he ruled he would not revoke the bond.
"I'm not going to revoke his bond, take away his freedom, based on those contacts," he said.
Instead, he modified the terms of the bond to explicitly state that the only contact that can occur between Black and Lee must be via email that also CC’s city leaders, including Mayor Toms and human resources director Toni Graham.
When asked about the case, Lee declined to comment.
So did Black, Hartwig, and Gary Lee's brother.
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