Macon DA Anita Howard launches task force to review murder cases after loss of evidence in 2021 case
A new task force aimed at re-examining old murder cases in Macon has been established by Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney Anita Howard. The move follows an incident in which crucial evidence in a 2021 murder case became inaccessible.
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A new task force aimed at re-examining old murder cases in Macon has been established by Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney Anita Howard. The move follows an incident in which crucial evidence in a 2021 murder case became inaccessible.
In 2021, Montaveous Raines, Jr. was murdered. A former Bibb County Sheriff’s Office deputy was an investigator in that case, and due to a corrupted hard drive, potential key evidence– including Ring camera footage–became unavailable.
That revelation was made this week in Bibb Superior Court.
“We have been told it’s not operable and is corrupted,” Howard said.
The task force was launched on Tuesday, the same day defense attorneys asked a judge to dismiss the case because of the missing evidence. The judge, however, denied their plea. Both the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office and district attorney’s office have acknowledged the issue.
“We need to see where we are, what we have, and what we can duplicate,” Howard said.
Howard also confirmed the sheriff’s office has been working in tandem with the district attorney’s office on the task force. She says her office received 173 emails related to the 2021 murder case from the sheriff’s office. None of those contained the Ring cam footage that could have been vital evidence, but the sheriff’s office did say it may have a lead on obtaining the footage.
The district attorney’s office had previously established an Intake Investigative Unit in the summer of 2022 to focus on recent murders. The new task force, however, will concentrate exclusively on murders and their associated evidence that occurred before that period.
Howard announced the formation of the new task force in a news release Tuesday night:
“The integrity of all criminal cases in my office is the utmost priority to me. This recent situation in which particular evidence was damaged and not properly turned over to prosecutors is concerning to both the Sherriff and to me.
Today, I announced the formation of a task force to review all murder cases and their collected evidence, that occurred prior to the formation of the District Attorney’s in house Intake Investigative Unit, which was formed in the third quarter of 2022. Review priority will begin with the cases involving a former Bibb County Sheriff’s Deputy. Along with the Sheriff’s Office, my team will audit these cases to ensure all evidence has been properly provided to prosecutors so that we, in turn, can provide the required discovery to the defense attorneys.
Under the law, prosecutors are responsible for evidence in the possession of police even if we are unaware that it exists. A case cannot be investigated and prosecuted in the proper manner without a strong partnership between law enforcement and the District Attorney’s Office, particularly for the serious violent felony crimes. A prosecutor’s reliance on law enforcement’s investigation is, therefore, both reasonable and necessary. In the vast majority of cases, things operate as they should. When they do not, as in this case, we will always address the situation with law enforcement and do what is necessary to minimize those errors in the future.”
41NBC reached out to the sheriff’s office for comment. The sheriff’s office referred us to the district attorney’s office.
