Bond was lowered in Justice Court last week for the McGay couple accused of felony child abuse in November. Initially set for $150,000 each, both bonds were lowered in a deal set between prosecution and the defense attorney.
The couple was arrested after bringing their 16 year old niece, who died a few hours later, to the emergency room October 30. The preliminary autopsy report stated the child died of blunt force trama, but also had an underlying heart condition that is still being investigated. Charges may be upgraded to murder pending the final autopsy report from the state medical examiner’s office.
Shakeitha McGay appeared in court for a preliminary hearing on December 3. In a deal agreed upon by prosecution and the defense, Shakeitha waived her right to the preliminary hearing, and her bond was lowered to $30,000.
“A preliminary hearing was set for Tuesday in Justice Court and the suspect waived her right to the preliminary hearing,” said Chief Deputy Barry White. “The defendant and her attorney made a motion for bond to be reduced. Law Enforcement did not agree with this decision. Judge Bartee stated he made the original bond higher ($150,000) due to waiting on the final results of the autopsy, but the autopsy results should have no bearing on these felony child abuse charges,” added White.
County prosecuting Attorney Edward “Nick” Kramer released the following statement on this matter:
On the first defendant (Shakeithia), she has an attorney from Hattiesburg. After talking with officers and seeing what evidence they (investigators) had, and that evidence being furnished also to her attorney, was basically that the coroner’s report said she died of blunt trama. There was an admission by the lady that she gave the child a whipping. The investigators are waiting on the toxicology report to decide whether or not to upgrade (charges) to murder, a capital offense. Until that comes in, she (McGay) is entitled to bail, because you are innocent in this country until proven guilty. After doing that and talking to the officers who obviously didn’t want the bond lowered much, we (the prosecution and defendant’s attorney) worked out a compromise whereby they waived the preliminary hearing and was assigned to the Grand Jury in February. Bond was lowered to $30,000 per the agreement. Judge Bartee at first objected to that stating he didn’t know why he should reduce the amount down that far. Her attorney explained that she was a student at this point, that she had limited funds, and had already been in jail at least 30 days. Again, she is INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY. Bond is NOT for the purpose of punishment at all, but to secure their presence at the Grand Jury in February. He (Judge Bartee) absolutely did the right thing based on our recommendation.
Allen McGay’s preliminary hearing was held on December 4 where his bond was lowered to $10,000, $20,000 less than his wife’s.
“We have stronger evidence on Shakeithia at this time, but this doesn’t mean that his charges are less or that they will not be upgraded after the final autopsy report,” stated Chief Deputy White. “Both are going before the Grand Jury in February.”
But, according to a statement from Justice Court Clerk Casey Kyle on December 4:
“A preliminary hearing was held for Allen McGay today on the charge of Felony Child Abuse.
The state testified that they have no conclusive physical proof to connect Allen McGay to the crime at this time. The defense attorney made a motion to dismiss the charge due to this factor, but Judge Bartee denied the motion and agreed to reduce the bond to $10,000. This case is bound over to the Grand Jury for February 2020.
The state hopes to have more evidence available at a later date. The lead investigator, county prosecutor and the judge all agree with this statement.”
The community took to social media with a firestorm of anger towards the court after hearing of the bonds being lowered. Although the community is outraged, this does not change the laws. In December 2016, the Mississippi Supreme Court adopted its first ever uniform rules of criminal procedure which went into effect July 2017. The new court rules were set in place to help prevent people with less resources from staying in jail without being able to bond out or hire a lawyer.
The newer rules allows judges to issue summons instead of arrest warrants when someone swears out a complaint, and also calls for judges to appoint lawyers to defendants without unnecessary delays. In addition to these changes, at the beginning of every court term, the rule states a sheriff must provide the judge names of everyone who has been jailed for more than 90 days to review the bail status of each person.
The case is still under investigation and The Tribune will report information as it is made available.
