Charges have been upgraded in the death of a 30-year-old man who died after a fight at Macon’s Whiskey River nightclub.

Bibb County grand jurors indicted Jeremy Lee Jackson, 33, on Tuesday on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault in the Jan. 16, 2011, death of Gary “Danny” Mimbs, according to an indictment filed in Bibb County Superior Court.

Jackson, of Macon, previously had been charged with involuntary manslaughter. He was released on bond in February 2011.

Mimbs’ parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit in January against Jackson, Whiskey River and four bouncers.

In the suit, they alleged that bouncers carried Mimbs out of the club and put him on the pavement outside after he lost consciousness. They said the bouncers “caused or exacerbated” an injury to their son’s spinal cord and brain stem, which caused his death hours later.

Reza Sedghi, Jackson’s lawyer, said Jackson was defending himself, and it wasn’t the fight that killed Mimbs.

“We’re going to fight tooth and nail and prove his innocence,” Sedghi said.

Witnesses saw the bouncers drop Mimbs on the concrete floor twice, he said.

“We’re going to have medical proof that the injury was caused by his head hitting the pavement,” Sedghi said.

When the case was presented to grand jurors Tuesday, more than two years had passed since Mimbs’ death.

Since taking office in January, Bibb County District Attorney David Cooke said he’s discovered that a number of cases in his office have not been indicted in a timely fashion. As soon as he became aware of the status of the case, it was prepared for presentment to the grand jury.

It’s not uncommon for a case involving an assault at a bar to begin with a manslaughter charge, Cooke said. After research, his office determined it would be best to prosecute the case as a murder, he said.

To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398.