Suspect of a 2004 Macon murder wants cases dismissed, arguing legal time limit is up
The attorney for a Macon man suspected for a murder that happened over two decades ago argued last week that the case should be dismissed because the statute of limitations on the case is up, according to court records.
Bobby Bearden — attorney for Terrance Bryant Dean, who is alleged to have shot and killed Macon minister Michael Glover and also accused of raping another victim — claimed that a new indictment filed against the suspect on Sept. 30 should be dismissed because the statute of limitations has run out, according to the attorney’s request from Jan. 9.
The attorney’s request over the statute of limitations issue is not his first one. Dean has been indicted three times since his arrest in March 2021, and in each case, Bearden has requested that the case be dismissed. Those three cases remain active, according to court records, with hearings taking place as recently as the first week of January.
Prosecutors didn’t immediately respond to questions about why three cases have been opened.
What happened on the day of the incident?
Glover, who preached at a local Baptist church and founded Pray Until Something Happens Ministry, was in a bedroom in his home when he was shot in the head by a single, small-caliber bullet, according to Telegraph archives.
The suspect grabbed a woman in the home, told her to shut up and sexually assaulted her, according to Telegraph archives, which referenced a police report around the time of the incident. The suspect allegedly threatened the surviving victim, saying that if she spoke to the cops, he would “come back and kill her,” according to the police report referenced in Telegraph archives.
She locked herself in a bathroom until police arrived, according to Telegraph archives referencing the police report.
Dean, who was serving time in prison for armed robberies that occurred in 2003 and 2004, one of them occurring six months after Glover’s death, was arrested in connection with the incident on March 26, 2021. He was not arrested until Bibb County Sheriff’s Office investigators uncovered evidence, a DNA sample, at the crime scene that matched Dean’s DNA, according to court records.
Why does Dean want his cases dismissed?
Since his arrest, Dean has been indicted in July 2021, November 2024, and September 2025 for the same offense, though the charges vary slightly. In his July 2021 indictment, he was charged with murder and rape. In his November 2024 case, he faced charges of malice murder, felony murder, rape, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm. In his 2025 indictment, he has been charged with malice murder, felony murder and rape.
Bearden argued that the case must be dismissed because Dean cannot be charged with rape and murder charges due to the statute of limitations running out, according to court records. Georgia law says crimes punishable by death and life imprisonment must be prosecuted within seven years, and rape cases must be prosecuted within 15 years. However, Georgia law also says prosecution can start at any time whenever DNA evidence is used to identify the suspect in certain offenses.
But Bearden claims that Dean had been a suspect since the day of the murder. Prosecutors cannot claim that the suspect was unknown and that DNA was needed to prosecute the case if he already had been identified, according to Bearden.
Dean was arrested 17 years after the incident.
If the case moves forward, Bearden wants the Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office to recuse itself from the case because an employee in the office is related to the victims, the new motion for dismissal says.
“This information requires such a recusal whenever there exists a conflict of interest so grave in nature as to render it unlikely that a fair trial will occur,” Bearden said in court records.
The district attorney’s office has not responded to requests for comment.
