Bond set for suspect in drive-by shooting death of 14-year-old Macon girl
Terrance Hampton was with his mother when the two heard ambulances drive by Dec. 13, the day 14-year-old Ta'Shuntis "Tootie" Roberts was killed in a drive-by shooting less than a mile away from their south Macon home, his lawyer said Thursday.
Hampton's aunt and grandmother had picked him up from his job at a Little Caesar's pizza restaurant about two hours earlier and then he'd gone to a Bloomfield Drive store and walked home at about 5:30 p.m., attorney Paul Christian said.
Bibb County deputies were called to Roberts' Lindwood Drive home in Macon's Bloomfield neighborhood at about 6 p.m.
Roberts, who as inside at the time of the shooting along with her two teenage brothers and some friends, died after suffering multiple gunshot wounds, authorities have said.
More than 25 shell casings were found in the front yard.
Hampton, 19, was charged with murder about a week later after deputies searched his house and found ammunition, rounds similar to ones used in the shooting, in a bag underneath a bed.
In arguing for Hampton to receive a bond Thursday, Christian said there's a lot of information about the case that casts doubt that Hampton participated in the shooting.
"Nobody puts Mr. Hampton at the scene," he said
Because Hampton has been in custody 90 days without prosecutors securing an indictment in the case, he was automatically entitled to a bond.
Bibb County Superior Court Judge Verda Colvin set a $150,000 bond for Hampton, reasoning that the amount needed to at least be as high as the bond set for Raven Alexandra Wooten, a woman accused of falsely reporting a gun as being stolen Dec. 14 that was found to have been used in the killing.
Wooten, 22, and her boyfriend, 24-year-old Kendrick Dwayne Murry, are charged with making a false statement to law enforcement and participation in criminal street gang activity, according to their arrest warrants.
Wooten is being held at the county jail on $150,000 bond. Murry's bond is set at $75,000, said prosecutor Larissa Ollivierre.
Christian said he's asked deputies to use Hampton's cell phone, which they have as evidence, to pinpoint his whereabouts at the time of the killing.
So far, that hasn't been done, he said.
Christian said his client's phone was in use around the time of the shooting.
A Bibb County Sheriff's Office detective testified in January that Hampton told someone he was tired of people shooting up his house and later said he'd shot the wrong person.
Christian said the witness is a gang member who belongs to a group that's a rival to a gang to which Hampton's brother allegedly belongs.
Ollivierre said the witness, who has not been identified, said he and Hampton were friends.
In arguing for a high bond, Olliverre said Hampton was arrested Nov. 16, 2015, on charges of possession of a sawed off shotgun and forgery of a gun carry permit.
He was released on bond two days later, she said.
In 2012, he'd been adjudicated delinquent in juvenile court for a burglary, possession of a controlled substance and violating probation, Ollivierre said.
Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report. To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398 or find her on Twitter@awomackmacon.
This story was originally published April 7, 2016 at 3:56 PM with the headline "Bond set for suspect in drive-by shooting death of 14-year-old Macon girl ."