By Malynda Fulton
VALDOSTA — The burned remains of 24-year-old Travis Sauls were recovered in a wooded area in Madison County, Fla., in October 2009.
Shortly after, John Dennis Woods, 36, of Nashville was arrested and charged in Sauls’ murder. Sauls is believed to have been killed in Nashville before his remains were transported for disposal to Florida.
Within one month, Woods was released on $150,000 bond and has been placed on house arrest with an ankle monitor. Sources state that he lives in close proximity to Sauls’ friends and family.
Woods is one of at least five murder suspects in the area who have recently been granted bond.
In Lowndes County, 29-year-old Brandon Lee Thompson and 20-year-old Lorenzo Bernard Countee Jr. were each granted $100,000 bond in January.
Thompson is charged with murder and cruelty toward children in the October 2009 death of his girlfriend’s daughter, Abriana Thomas.
Countee was initially charged with murder in the July 2009 shooting death of 24-year-old Antonio Jermaine Mitchell and aggravated assault in the shooting of Desmond Jones. Countee’s charges have been reduced to aggravated assault, armed robbery and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.
Still, for years, it was a rare situation that courts granted or released on bond a suspect arrested in connection with a murder.
Lowndes County Superior Court Senior Judge H. Arthur “Mac” McLane said that the process for granting a murder suspect bond is a complicated situation.
“If they are not indicted by a grand jury in a certain amount of time, they are entitled to a bond under Georgia law,” McLane said. “A judge can, however, deny bond if certain conditions are met. These include evidence to show that the defendant would commit another crime, intimidate a witness or leave the jurisdiction. If they have violated bond before, it is easier to deny bond on a subsequent charge as well.”
Nonetheless, if none of those conditions are met, a murder suspect can be granted bond.
“There are several stipulations a judge can put on a bond,” McLane said. “These include house arrest, ankle monitors, no contact with people associated with the case, forfeiture of any firearms and direct line from house to employment, just to name a few.”
McLane said that there is no law in place that automatically denies a murder suspect the right to bond; however in more cases than not, murder suspects are not granted bond.
“Every case is taken on its own merit and it is very difficult to say that bond will or will not be granted,” he added. “There are different circumstances with every case.”
Southern Judicial Circuit Chief Assistant District Attorney Brad Shealy, who prosecutes murder cases, confirmed that a murder suspect has the right to petition the superior court for bond if he or she is not indicted within 90 days of the arrest.
Shealy said the delay in presenting murder cases to the grand jury for indictment are usually linked to the wait time for analyzing evidence.
“We try to make sure we have all the evidence before we present the case to the grand jury,” he said. “Because of the backlog of evidence at the state crime labs, it can take six or seven months for us to receive DNA results.”
Shealy said that a defendant can file a demand for speedy trial after he or she is indicted. If all the evidence is not analyzed before trial begins, it weakens the prosecutor’s case.
“I know that the Valdosta Police Department does a very thorough job of getting forensic evidence in all their cases to make sure no stone is left unturned,” he added. “Therefore, we just have to hold off on the indictment process to make sure justice is served in the long run.”
While further addressing the backlog at the state crime lab, Shealy mentioned that drug evidence is now being sent to Pennsylvania and rape kits are being sent to New Orleans to be analyzed, which causes a bigger delay in drug and sexual assault cases.
The state crime lab representative who could answer questions concerning delays was unavailable for comment last week.
Valdosta Police Cmdr. Brian Childress said that the new regional crime lab will help alleviate such delays in analyzing evidence.
“I’m confident that with the new regional crime lab, we will be able to process evidence on any criminal case and get it back to the prosecutor’s office quicker than the state crime labs because they are so backed up,” Childress said.
Through this lab, authorities will be able to analyze almost everything except DNA, which will still be sent to the state crime lab.
“There has been some delay on the opening of the crime lab because it is not a normal building,” Childress explained. “It has three different ventilation systems that are necessary to analyze various types of evidence. Therefore, special equipment has been installed. These types of things take time.”
Childress added that the Valdosta police chief would like to have people moved into the lab some time in March or early April.
