MACON, Ga. — This week, the District Attorney's Office of Anita Howard is doubling down, and criticizing why it took almost a year for the Bibb County Sheriff's Office to fire Investigator Nicholas Denny, after he allegedly gave false testimony to a grand jury.
Denny worked with the department for 14 years, and in 2023 he was awarded Investigator of the Year. Sheriff David Davis told us in our last report that firing Denny took months because he needed to get all documents and records needed to decide.
On top of that, he shared this about getting the G.B.I. involved in our last report.
"The DA and myself thought it would be appropriate to have the GBI to come in and look at it, and see if there was a grounds for criminal charges," he said.
The District Attorney's Office of Anita Howard told us they did not request an investigation by the GBI, nor did the GBI conduct one. The GBI told 13WMAZ the same thing.
Instead, the District Attorney's Office did their own investigation that they shared with the sheriff.
On Tuesday, Davis shared with us that the GBI was involved, but didn't actually investigate.
"It was more of a consultation role, than a complete investigation so we're talking about semantics here," Davis said.
He said he asked the GBI to get involved in August, and was waiting to hear back from them before deciding to fire Denny in October.
"I told them to look into it, I gave them what the DA gave me," Davis said. "And if they felt the need to start from scratch and launch a full investigation, that's in their purview."
He said the GBI thought the District Attorney's investigation had enough evidence to take it to a grand jury, if they decided to.
Last week, Howard told us it took Davis almost a year to fire Denny, after learning that he made false statements to a grand jury. Howard said Davis had all the information he needed to know in October 2023.
In our last report, Davis said that Denny served in a modified role over the past year, and was not a lead investigator on any criminal case.
Today, Denny faces possible criminal charges, on top of facing two separate federal lawsuits. The sheriff said Denny is appealing his firing.