MACON, Ga. — On Monday, former Macon Mayor C. Jack Ellis and concerned citizens called on the Department of Justice to reopen the Sammie "Junebug" Davis case. Wanya Reese spoke to supporters and the District Attorney to find out more about the 7-year-old case that's still causing controversy.
"This officer took the life of an innocent man," C. Jack Ellis said.
On Monday, Former Macon Mayor C. Jack Ellis and several others gathered at Rosa Parks Square to demand justice for Sammie "Junebug" Davis.
"And he was a peaceful guy -- a gentle giant, we would call him," Ellis said.
Ellis says Davis asking the US Department of Justice to reopen the case.
"And we think it should be investigated not by the GBI again, not by the local DA, not by the local district attorney, but by the civil rights division of the justice department," Ellis said.
"It was very important to us that this investigation not be conducted by the officer's own department," District Attorney David Cooke said.
District Attorney David Cooke argues the GBI conducted a full and thorough investigation.
My first act as the DA was to call in the GBI to reexamine the evidence as a neutral and objective third party. Then, of course, the GBI completed their investigation they made their finding and turned those findings over to me," Cooke said.
Cooke says he provided the case file to the Department of Justice run by then-US Attorney Eric Holder under President Barack Obama. He says the federal agency also did not find evidence of a civil rights violation or any other crimes to charge the officer.
"Both independent reviews concluded that there was no evidence to produce charges against officer Sutton," Cooke said.
Ellis and the others said they're bringing up the case now because of the national wave of protests against police killings of African Americans and that they still hope for "Justice for Junebug."
Full Statement from Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney David Cooke:
“I inherited this case from the prior District Attorney, Greg Winters, who allowed the Macon Police to conduct an investigation of its own officer, and refused to call in the GBI to conduct an independent investigation.
My first act as DA was to call in the GBI to re-examine the evidence as a neutral and objective third party. My office then reviewed the GBI’s findings and we also provided a copy of the evidence to the U.S. Justice Department under U.S. Attorney Eric Holder and President Barack Obama for an additional review. Both independent reviews concluded there was no evidence to pursue charges against Officer Sutton.
Should there be any new credible evidence that calls into question the forensic evidence that corroborated eyewitness testimony, I would personally be more than happy to reopen the case.
It’s important that justice is fair, and that we give our community ample reason to trust our decisions. That’s why this case was the first under a new policy I set for the Macon Judicial Circuit in my first act as DA back in 2013, and that we’ve continued to use to this day -- the GBI conducts independent investigations into all officer-involved shootings and deadly uses of force. If this policy had been enacted in Minneapolis and Glynn County, arrests would have happened in Mr. Floyd’s and Mr. Arbery’s deaths much sooner.
As always, we remain willing to reopen any case where new evidence comes to light.
We also asked the District Attorney if how he felt on the civil rights angle of this case:
Based on my conversations with U.S. Department of Justice officials, their review did not find sufficient evidence of a civil rights violation or other crimes to charge the officer”
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