CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — The ex-boyfriend in Clayton County accused of kidnapping a woman from her place of work, leading police on a chase and killing her as officers closed in will face a preliminary hearing later this month.
One had originally been scheduled for Monday, but the Clayton County Magistrate Court confirmed Friday that a new date for that hearing is Aug. 23.
Cameron Hopkins, 20, first appeared before a judge last month in the death of 19-year-old Khaliyah Jones. His next scheduled appearance will be a preliminary hearing, which can often incorporate some testimony and more substantive elements of the case.
11Alive's Zach Merchant reported this week on why Hopkins had been out on bond last month when the killing occurred, even though he was first arrested and jailed on a nearly identical accusation - kidnapping Jones and threatening to kill her - last year.
11Alive Invesigates found that that under current Georgia law, a felony defendant cannot be held in jail without bond for more than 90 days after their arrest without an indictment. If prosecutors do not obtain an indictment within that 90 day timeline, a judge is typically required to grant the defendant bond — regardless of the charges.
Clayton County prosecutors did not obtain an indictment until March 2023 — more than seven months after Hopkins’ July 2022 arrest, according to court documents obtained by 11Alive.
Court records show that a magistrate court judge initially denied Hopkins bond on his July 2022 kidnapping and related charges, but after more than 90 days passed without an indictment, a superior court judge reversed course in October 2022 and granted bond.
In a phone interview, Clayton County District Attorney Mosley said “we did miss the 90-day time period to indict.” She called the oversight “a mistake.”
"My child is dead because of a 'mistake'?" Khaliyah Jones' mother Bridgette Jones told 11Alive. "I do not accept that."