MACON, Ga. — A Macon man charged in a deadly 2021 east Macon hit and run will not be prosecuted after all, court filings from the Macon District Attorney's Office reveal.
Irene Stubbs was killed on Old Clinton Road on July 16, 2021, after a car hit her and drove off, according to a previous press release from the Bibb County Sheriff's Office. They say she was just blocks away from her home.
Eight months later, the sheriff's office arrested Nathan Charles Epps in March 2022. He was accused of striking Stubbs with a 2006 Hyundai Sonata he was driving and speeding off.
But on Tuesday, the Macon District Attorney's Office filed a "Motion to Nolle Prossequi." That's essentially the legal motion prosecutors file when they want to drop charges.
Sometimes the decision to "Nolle Prossequi" happens after a plea agreement where the accused admits to some counts in exchange for other counts being dropped, but in other cases, it comes when prosecutors decide they don't have enough evidence to prosecute.
According to the filings, that's the situation the Macon's DA's Office found themselves in ahead of a potential trial.
"Therefore, because of these developments in the evidence in this case, the State no longer believes that it can prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt," the filing from prosecutor Kyle Owenby says.
The filing says the breakdown in the evidence comes on two fronts: discrepancies in witness testimony and a GBI analysis that undermined part of their case.
When meeting with a witness who says they saw the hit-and-run leading to Stubbs' death, they say the facts have gotten more murky.
"The first being that she is now no longer confident about what she saw on the night of the incident and could not say for certain that it was the defendant who drove the car that struck the victim, Ms. Irene Stubbs," the filing said.
Prosecutors also say that the witness' "repeated instances about what she saw happen" had changed.
The witness originally claimed the car that killed Stubbs looked like Epps' mother's car. She also said that it looked like Epps was behind the wheel at the time. But now, the witness says "it was a very dark night that night and hard to see anything," the filing said.
That makes it harder for prosecutors to prove on the stand that Epps was driving the car at the time.
Then, the Georgia Bureau of Investigations released a forensics report that undercut a second crucial piece of evidence in the case.
Authorities uncovered a piece of fabric from the underside of the Hyundai Sonata they believed was from Stubbs' clothing.
But after the report was issued Sept. 3, the GBI found the fibers "did not originate from the clothing identified as coming from Irene Stubbs."
They say the fibers recovered were "inconsistent in color, microscopic and/or optical characteristic," the report says.
Six days after receiving the report, prosecutors filed their motion to drop the charges against Epps on Sept. 9, and on Sept. 30, Judge Jeffrey Monroe signed off on the motion.
The DA's Office said in a statement that the decision was made based on the evidence. When evidence is not there to proceed, they say it's their duty to drop the charges.
"We have a legal and ethical obligation to protect the rights of both victims and defendants. Removing someone’s liberty without proper evidence goes against our obligation to pursue justice for all," the DA's Office said.
Stubbs' death also highlighted pedestrian safety issues in east Macon, leading to some members of the Bibb County Commission calling for upgrades and improvements to Old Clinton Road.
The commission passed a law named after Stubbs — "Irene's Law" — in the wake of her death. The improvements include more lighting and sidewalks.
