ATLANTA — The Georgia Supreme Court could decide the fate of six Fulton County jailers within the next few months. Prosecutors have made accusations linking them to the death of an inmate in 2018. However, a judge tossed the charges months earlier.
The case now lies in the hands of the state Supreme Court. The arguments Tuesday centered around the definition of the term "peace officer."
"The question is what is the ordinary meaning of this undefined term here?" Justice Andrew Pinson posed.
According to Georgia law, a peace officer maintains public order and has arrest powers. Attorneys representing the Fulton County District Attorney's Office, the state in this case, and attorneys representing the jailers, presented arguments requesting the court to more clearly define what it means to be a peace officer.
Attorney Devin Rafus, who represents Omar Jackson, argued that the definition should apply to the six jailers accused in the death of Antonio May. In November, a judge tossed the jailers' indictments, saying the DA's office failed to comply with state law when pressing charges.
"The DA's Office should have given us opportunity and notice that they were presenting an indictment so that way our clients, the peace officers, the jailers if you will, could have testified in front of the grand jury to talk about what happened," Rafus said. "The justice system is sort of a slow process, unfortunately, so our client and all the other clients have to experience this hanging over the head during that timeframe.”
Peace officers typically get a say in court before a grand jury can return an indictment. The six jailers were originally indicted in 2021 on charges including felony murder, aggravated assault and violating their oath as public officers. The charges stem from an incident involving May, whose family claims he was having a mental health crisis before he was jailed on a misdemeanor trespassing charge.
A medical examiner's report from 2018 states the jailers responded to May when he was naked and on drugs in a holding cell. The GBI said May tried to fight them off, but witnesses claim May was beaten, sprayed with a water hose and stunned with a Taser. He ended up dying in jail.
"It's an unfortunate situation obviously whenever someone passes away inside a jail or outside," Rafus said. "But the fact remains there are some benefits or protections for peace officers that we should have been entitled to."
While the defense for the jailers wants an expanded application for peace officers so they can testify before a grand jury, Charles Jones, an attorney arguing on behalf of the Fulton DA's Office, said the court would have to add guardrails to the terms because the legislature failed to do so.
"These defendants maintain order within the jail, and even in that they’re very limited," Jones said. “We don’t want every security guard to have to receive this notice to appear before a grand jury.”
The DA's Office can re-indict the jailers should the Supreme Court agree to drop the charges. The office did not want to comment directly to 11Alive on this case.
According to the Fulton County Sheriff's Office, three jailers involved in the case have resigned since they were initially indicted. Three others have been placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of the case. The Georgia Supreme Court has within six months to make an official ruling.