MACON, Ga. — A Bibb Superior Court judge dismissed a 2021 Lake Wildwood murder case Thursday after the charging document against the accused was found to be invalid.
Judge Jeffrey Monroe dismissed the murder case against Jordan Mullis and Jaylen Smith. However, it's unclear whether prosecutors will be able to recharge the two men.
Mullis and Smith are accused of shooting and killing Montaveous Raines, who died in the parking lot of Lake Wildwood Baptist Church. But their attorneys claim that Raines was robbing the two and the shooting was in self-defense.
Brandi Cates, judicial assistant to Judge Jeffrey Monroe, confirmed that Monroe dismissed the case on Thursday in the middle of the trial. However, the judge has not decided whether prosecutors will be allowed to recharge Mullis and Smith.
The reason the case was tossed out is relatively technical.
Grand juries, the body that formally indicts/charges a person accused of a crime, are required under Georgia law to have at least 16 people to issue an indictment.
In the indictment against both Mullis and Smith, there were questions about whether there were the necessary number of jurors. On the indictment, only 15 grand jurors are listed, one fewer than is needed to issue an indictment.
Because of that, Judge Monroe ruled the indictment was null and void, dismissing the case.
However, the Macon District Attorney's Office — who first identified the issue and shared it with the court — says that they believe the decision is "contrary to established legal precedent" and the case should have continued to trial.
With that, they say their office will appeal the decision.
"Our office is committed to the fair and diligent pursuit of justice," the Macon District Attorney's Office said in a statement. "We believe it is important to address potential legal issues promptly when they are discovered. While we disagree with the court's decision, we respect the legal process and look forward to presenting our case on appeal."
The case has been ensnared in numerous issues since the two men were first arrested.
A Bibb County investigator, Omar Sanders, lost surveillance video that Mullis and Smith's attorneys believe is crucial to their self-defense case. Court documents show the video was on a hard drive that was later corrupted, losing the evidence.
While the attorneys attempted to get the case dismissed due to numerous evidence issues, the judge rejected that. While they say the evidence "shows there is bad faith on the part of the Bibb County Sheriff's Office," the missing evidence was not important enough to justify dismissing the case — it was only potentially useful to their case, the judge previously ruled.
That was not enough to violate their due process rights and toss out the case.
But after tossing the case on Thursday, Monroe still needs to decide whether to dismiss the case with prejudice, where prosecutors couldn't recharge him, or without prejudice, which would allow prosecutors to take the case before a new grand jury.