MACON, Ga. — The Macon NAACP held a news conference Friday, criticizing the Bibb County Sheriff's Office in two separate cases outside their 3rd Street Offices.
While standing in the parking spots of Sheriff David Davis and his chief deputy, NAACP Macon President Gwennete Westbrooks called for more scrutiny on cases handled by Nick Denny.
He’s the former investigator accused of lying to a grand jury to get an indictment.
"It's very hard to trust anyone in law enforcement that is not honest," Westbrooks said. "It sends a message to this community that not only affects that one officer... When you have one person, they represent the sheriff's office — it's a trust issue."
Denny accused a former deputy of buying a firearm for a gang-affiliated family member.
Charges were dropped after the Macon District Attorney's Office said Denny had lied to the grand jury.
"The NAACP is asking for all of his cases to be reviewed, current cases and past cases that may have had an outcome of a conviction," Westbrooks said.
Macon District Attorney Anita Howard says Bibb County Sheriff David Davis waited nearly a year to fire Denny, after she told Davis in 2023 that she had concerns about his testimony.
However, Davis says it takes time to fully investigate. Once he had the investigation, he then made the decision to fire Denny.
Westbrooks also called for hate crime charges against Scott Malkowsski. He’s the west Macon man charged with setting cars on fire in a Lake Wildwood neighborhood in November.
He is charged with family violence simple battery, two counts of aggravated assault and four counts of arson.
In an incident report, one victim said Malkowski yelled racial slurs at her before he set their car on fire.
Despite this, the incident report did not list any bias, and in a statement, the sheriff's office said he "appeared to be displaying some type of mental distress."
"At this time, it is undetermined what Mr. Malkowski was experiencing," the sheriff's office said.
Westbrooks also criticized a 13WMAZ investigation of Howard’s office.
Back in November, 13WMAZ reported that 61.5% of people tried on murder charges in Macon-Bibb were acquitted in Macon-Bibb County.
Eight of the 13 people tried for murder were acquitted. Family members and legal observers cited turnover in cases, forcing the prosecutor to start from scratch among other issues.
She says that the conviction rate does not suggest she's not qualified to serve as Macon District Attorney.
She claimed that a low conviction rate is not necessarily bad, and high conviction rates can be wrong as well.
"If you have 100 cases, and in 100 cases you convict," Westbrooks said. "That's a red flag to us because everyone is not guilty. Some people are innocent."
13WMAZ stands by its reporting. You can find the full investigation here.
