MACON, Ga. — On a November night in 2021, authorities responded to a call around 8 p.m and found 18-year-old Montaveous Raines dead from multiple gunshot wounds outside the Lake Wildwood Baptist Church.
On Thursday, prosecutors told Judge Jeffery Monroe it was unclear whether 15 or 16 grand jurors voted to indict Jordan Mullis and Jaylen Smith, who were charged with Raines' death. State law requires 16 grand jurors to indict.
Monroe abruptly ended the trial and ruled that the indictment was not valid.
Mullis's lawyer Sarah Riedel says poor investigative work by former lead investigator Omar Sanders led to the loss of crucial evidence in the case, including a corrupted hard drive containing ring camera video of the night of the incident.
She says the defense had pushed for full cell phone searching for over a year to access exculpatory evidence that would prove her client innocent.
"We don't know what else we didn't get. And the thing is, what was so important about getting this phone footage was that what we discovered is what my client had told me all along," Riedel said. "The deceased person, Mr. Raines was robbing him at gunpoint."
Riedel says a search through the phones revealed a video of Raines and the third defendant Mia Hawkins driving around with an AK assault-style rifle in the car.
Hawkins pleaded guilty to her murder charges and agreed to testify against Smith and Mullis.
Riedel says she refused to testify this week, so she will be re-sentenced next Friday.
"I know that the state has said that it's their position that they're going to appeal Judge Monroe's decision," Riedel said. "So we'll have to wait and see what happens there, but I think that the judge made the right decision."
With his decision to toss the case, Judge Monroe still needs to decide whether to dismiss the case with prejudice, where prosecutors couldn't recharge, or without prejudice, where the case would be taken before a new grand jury.