Shooting charge against convicted bank robber dropped in death of 1-year-old Macon boy
A shooting charge against a Savannah-area man was dismissed last week by a Bibb County magistrate judge in the Feb. 14 death of a 1-year-old Macon boy.
The suspect, John Demetrius Simmons, has been in jail here since the night of the shooting on charges that include felony murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Simmons, 28, pleaded guilty to bank robbery in 2014 for his role in a stickup at a Wells Fargo branch in Garden City, his Chatham County hometown, in 2013. He was released from federal prison in 2019 and prohibited from having a gun.
But Bibb sheriff’s investigators say that Simmons was sitting on a 9mm pistol on Valentine’s Day night while he was playing cards at the west Macon apartment where 1-year-old Monterrious Brown was killed by a single gunshot to his torso.
At an Aug. 18 probable cause hearing in the case, sheriff’s deputy Peggy Newman testified that Simmons had gone to the Chambers Cove Apartments with the boy’s aunt. They were apparently visiting to do laundry.
“Mr. Simmons had brought the weapon and was sitting on it and the gun went off, shooting the child as (the boy) was walking by or standing,” Newman said.
The felony murder charge against Simmons — which is punishable upon conviction by a minimum 30-year sentence and a maximum of life without parole — hinges on the alleged underlying felony of him, a convicted felon, having a gun. In a felony murder case, prosecutors do not have to prove there was any intent to cause death, just that someone did intend to commit a felony which led to someone’s death.
In court last week, Simmons’ attorney, Tamika L. Fluker, in successfully arguing against the aggravated assault charge, said the gun’s firing had been an accident.
“At no point did anybody see (Simmons) point this gun at the child and pull the trigger,” Fluker said, adding that there was no proof Simmons did anything to cause the pistol to go off.
“Aggravated assault,” she said, “does require some type of intentional action, either to threaten someone with a firearm or to actually shoot them.”
Bibb County Magistrate Judge James J. Daniels II agreed and dismissed the aggravated assault charge, though there is a chance it could be reinstated if prosecutors choose to make a case for it before a grand jury.
This story was originally published August 23, 2021 at 5:00 AM.