The judge presiding over a death penalty case pending in Tattnall County expressed frustration with the ongoing delays during a hearing Tuesday.
Attorneys were unable to come to a consensus on when the trial of Nathan Weekes should be scheduled. While the state was adamant that the case needed a trial date and they would be ready this fall, defense counsel said they would need until at least April of 2027. Weekes is facing the death penalty for the 2021 murder of Glennville native Bobby Kicklighter, a crime prosecutors alleged was orchestrated by Weekes while he was incarcerated at Smith State Prison.
Shayla Galloway of the Capital Defender’s Office told Judge Jay Stewart on Tuesday that there was yet another shuffling of counsel for Weekes with the retirement of Christian Lamar. Galloway, who was previously second chair, was now first chair and Elise Burnum, previously third chair, was moving to second chair. The moves, Galloway said, mean different roles for both while they also juggle other pending death penalty cases across the state. She said she had recently been assigned a new case and there were things she was statutorily obligated to do by a deadline.
Special Prosecutor Sheila Ross told the court that she was sympathetic to the change in counsel and their need to ensure they review all of the relevant documents, but the case needs a trial date so the parties can work backward from the date.
“Four years ago this case was indicted. This is the third new lead counsel and we need an actual trial date,” Ross said.
Judge Stewart told both attorneys that he already once set a trial date and they “blew right past it.”
He expressed frustration over the explanation that a new case was holding up the scheduling when the previous explanation was that older cases were in front of the Weekes case. “It’s like trying to nail jello to a wall and I’m tired of it,” Stewart said. “This case needs to be tried.”
Stewart lamented that he was committed to ensuring that the rights of Weekes were protected throughout the process and in accordance with the constitution, but said the court could not continue to allow unlimited delays.
Galloway said she understood the court’s position but said the case needs to be “tried effectively.”
“I’m a good multitasker, but I’m not a magician,” Galloway said, noting that the cases take a lot of work and pertain to a person’s life.
“I understand, but agree with Mrs. Ross. If we have a trial date, we work backward,” Stewart said.
Defense counsel then asked for an ex-parte conversation, presumably related to the scheduling of a trial, outside the presence of prosecutors and the public, prompting the courtroom to be cleared. Weekes and his counsel remained in the courtroom for a little more than thirty minutes.
Upon return, attorneys again addressed possible court dates. Ross said she understood other 2019 cases were pending ahead of Weekes, but that ‘sometimes they go and sometimes they don’t.’ She asked the court to schedule in the fall.
Galloway reiterated that defense counsel would not be ready before April 2027 and also noted that the fall would not be optimal because of Thanksgiving and Christmas. “April is the best suggestion I can make with the facts before me,” she said.
Judge Stewart said he was not going to set a date for the trial Tuesday based on what he heard during the proceedings. He said he would take both arguments under advisement.
Issues with Counsel
Weekes, who has been incarcerated by the Georgia Department of Corrections since he was first charged in 2021, was first represented by retained legal counsel Brian Steele of Atlanta.
In September 2022, the state announced that it intended to seek the death penalty against Weekes and would be represented by Cobb County attorneys Jimmy Berry and Gerald Word going forward. They were also retained counsel. Both attorneys met with Weekes on numerous occasions and filed a host of motions on Weekes’ behalf for a little less than nine months.
In June 2023, Word and Berry filed notices of intent to withdraw from the case and in a hearing, Word told the court that Weekes had completed an application to be deemed indigent because he had no source of income. Judge Stewart subsequently ordered Weekes to be counseled by the Georgia Capital Defender’s Office. The office varies from a typical public defender and specializes only in death penalty cases in Georgia as attorneys must meet strict criteria to represent defendants in capital cases.
By August of 2023, Weekes was appearing in court represented by three attorneys from the Capital Defender’s Office: Christian Lamar, Shayla Galloway, and Elise Burnum. All three represented Weekes until Lamar’s recent retirement.
Limited Resources for the Capital Defender’s Office
The Georgia Capital Defender’s Office handles nearly every death penalty case in the state and they employ only a handful of attorneys. Most of the attorneys are handling multiple death penalty cases, which have unique statutory requirements and deadlines that non-capital murder cases do not.
Weekes’ attorneys have a pending case in Gwinnett County that is expected to go to trial this summer. In 2022, they represented Ricky Dubose who shot and killed two corrections officers in Putnam County in 2017.
Weekes’ co-defendant, Christopher Sumlin, is also represented by the Capital Defender’s Office. His attorneys are also representing Elwyn Crocker in his pending case in Effingham County. Those same attorneys are also representing Damien Anthony Feguson, the man who killed Alamo Police Officer Dylan Harrison in 2021.
Weekes Case Delays Create Domino Effect of Delays
Delays in the Weekes case continue to keep progress on related cases at bay. Weekes is one of two defendants facing the death penalty in the death of Bobby Kicklighter. Christopher Reginald Sumlin Jr. will also stand trial for Kicklighter’s death, but Weekes will be tried first.
Co-defendant Keisha Jones, who is also facing murder charges in relation to Kicklighter’s death but will not face the death penalty, will be tried after Sumlin. The sentencing of Aerial Murphy, the getaway driver, is not expected to occur until at least the conclusion of the Tattnall County cases either.
Sumlin is also facing murder charges in Wayne County for the death of Jerry Lee Davis, a commissary truck driver who delivered to Smith State Prison, and that case is not expected to be presented to a grand jury until the conclusion of the Tattnall County case.
Keisha Jones and Dennis Kraft have been charged with murder and other offenses in Long County for the death of Jessica Gerling, a former Smith SP Corrections Officer and girlfriend of Nathan Weekes.
Other related offenses against those alleged to be connected to the criminal enterprise operating within Smith State Prison are always awaiting adjudication. Ireon Moore, a corrections officer arrested for bringing $29,000 in cash into the prison in a LongHorn takeout bag, is still awaiting court action along with her co-defendant, inmate Devion Waller.
Sumlin’s charges for his alleged assault in Liberty County against another corrections officer remains open as well.
While former Smith SP Warden Brian Adams has been charged with RICO and other felony offenses connected to his alleged relationship with inmates, his case is separate from the pending murder cases. His case is being handled by Attorney General Chris Carr and while Adams was arrested in February 2023, Carr has yet to present the case to a grand jury in Tattnall County.
Matters to Still Be Decided
A few procedural matters remain in the Weekes case before the case can officially move toward jury selection, but the matter of venue is also still pending. Last summer, Judge Stewart denied the defense’s request for a change in venue because of pretrial publicity about the case and negative publicity about the Georgia Department of Corrections generally, but reserved judgment on a second prong of the change of venue motion until further down the road. The next evaluation of venue will be determined during jury selection if defense counsel contends that an objective jury cannot be seated in Tattnall County.
The question for jurors is not whether or not they have heard about the case, but whether or not they already have an established opinion on the case and if they can objectively consider the facts of the case as a juror.
