Will charges in ‘Cold Justice’ murder case be permanently dismissed? Judge to decide
After an hours-long court hearing Wednesday, a judge declined to immediately dismiss murder charges in the Columbus cold-case homicide that gained national attention when it was featured on the TV show “Cold Justice.”
“I will let you know I’ll have my ruling between now and Christmas,” Superior Court Judge Gil McBride told attorneys arguing motions in the 2004 fatal shooting of William Kirby Smith Jr., in which Smith’s estranged wife Rebecca Haynie and her alleged lover, Donald Keith Phillips, were charged with murder.
Wednesday’s hearing followed Assistant District Attorney Robin Anthony filing a Nov. 22 motion to dismiss the charges, writing that “the state believes it cannot meet the standard of proof at trial.”
Anthony filed a motion called a “nolle prosequi,” which means prosecutors have elected not to pursue the case now, but could re-indict it with additional evidence. Georgia law has no time limit on filing murder charges.
Anthony said her current boss, acting District Attorney Sheneka Terry, does not intend to do that: “It’s not our intent to pursue this case,” she said, but she acknowledged a future district attorney could bring it back.
Defense attorneys pushed for a dismissal “with prejudice,” which would mean the suspects never again could be charged with Smith’s homicide.
Prosecutors already were facing a possible dismissal for disobeying court orders to provide materials to the defense, including evidence related to the reality-TV crime drama that featured the suspects’ arrests.
Foss Hodges, one of Haynie’s attorneys, told McBride his client should not have to live with the threat of future prosecution. The defense repeatedly demanded evidence that was not provided, despite court orders to turn it over, and previously sought to have the case dismissed because of that, he noted.
He praised Anthony for her cooperation in resolving those issues. Anthony only recently was assigned the case when she rejoined the DA’s office after working as a public defender.
“We have no reason at this point to believe that their intentions are anything but noble,” he said of prosecutors’ moving to dismiss the charges. But the defense still wants the case dropped permanently, lest the defendants wind up in the same position years from now, he said.
“They would have to live with that for the rest of their lives,” he said. Their constitutional right to a speedy trial already has been “irreversibly violated” by the prosecution’s repeated delays in sharing evidence, he added.
Columbus attorney John Martin, who represents Phillips, said the prolonged delay in getting the case to trial has drained the defendants’ finances. “The reason for the vast majority of the delay rests with the state,” he added, also asking McBride to dismiss the case with prejudice.
“The argument has been helpful, has gotten me to the conclusion I think I’m forced to make,” McBride said as the hearing concluded. “I will still take it under advisement, and get you a ruling between now and Christmas.”
The judge now has to decide which dismissal option to choose in closing a case that began when Smith, 50, was found shot once in the torso and again in the head the morning of Monday, March 8, 2004, in Kirby’s Speed Shop at 1438 Jacqueline Drive.
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During a preliminary hearing in 2014, investigators said they immediately considered the estranged wife a suspect, as she and Smith were involved in a contentious divorce, and Smith had evidence of his wife’s alleged infidelity.
But police did not arrest the pair until June 15, 2014, when producers of the “Cold Justice” show got involved. The arrests were featured in an episode that aired a month later.
Claiming the TV show was the only evidence police had, defense attorneys demanded materials from its production. Judge McBride ordered prosecutors to secure that evidence and share it, and that never happened.
McBride punished prosecutors by ruling they could not use any evidence from “Cold Justice” during the trial, but other defense demands also went unmet. Anthony told the court Wednesday that all the requested evidence was available to the defense on Nov. 23, but defense attorneys asked for a stay on their demands as they waited to see how the judge ruled on dismissing the case.
Arrested June 4, 2014, Haynie and Phillips were released on bond the following September. They were indicted Aug. 30, 2016, and the defense in July 2018 asked McBride to dismiss the case for lack of a speedy trial.
In their latest motion, filed Nov. 10, the defense attorneys told the judge their clients cannot wait indefinitely for a trial continually rescheduled, its most recent date Dec. 6.
This story was originally published December 1, 2021 at 2:53 PM.