Bond granted for teen charged in Bibb warrant clerk's slaying

Charged with murder last October as a 16-year-old, Drayson McDonald was booked into the Bibb County jail on his 17th birthday Dec. 15.

Before Vernard Mays was fatally shot Oct. 27, 2015, McDonald was a Bibb County high school student who worked at a Sonic Drive-In restaurant, his lawyer, Lauren Deal, said during a Thursday bond hearing in Bibb County Superior Court.

McDonald and four other men and teenagers were indicted Tuesday, charged with murder in Mays' death.

Accused of being one of at least three shooters in Mays' death, McDonald wasn't a stranger to the criminal justice system, said prosecutor Larissa Ollivierre.

Between 2012 and 2014 he was adjudicated delinquent in Bibb County Juvenile Court on nearly 20 charges ranging from curfew violations and simple battery to felony obstruction and violating the state's Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act, she said.

Authorities contend Facebook posts show McDonald is associated with Macon's 10-12 street gang. His screen name is "RIP Petey," Ollivierre said.

Damian Bernard "Little Petey" Clayton, a 16-year-old alleged 10-12 gang member, was fatally shot in 2014 at a Macon Little League ball park on Anthony Road. A search of Facebook screen names including "RIP Petey" reveals several people in Macon include the moniker in their handle.

Because McDonald was incarcerated for more than 90 days before he was indicted Tuesday, he was entitled to a bond.

The judge set McDonald's bond at $100,000 and required that he wear an ankle monitor and be confined to his home as he awaits trial. McDonald is barred from having contact with gang members, Mays' family and his co-defendants.

On the day of the killing, a group of people were in a car crash near Mays' Second Street home and some of the car's occupants were taken to a hospital by ambulance, Ollivierre said.

"Right before the ambulance arrived, it is believed that they stashed weapons and maybe even drugs" near Mays' home, she said.

McDonald and others later went to Mays' home, thinking the 23-year-old Bibb County Sheriff's Office warrant clerk knew the items had been stashed near the house, Ollivierre said.

Mays denied knowing anything had been hidden in the area, she said.

"They didn't believe him," Ollivierre said. "They opened fire, killing Mr. Mays."

When police arrived, 22-year-old Curtis Dewayne Jackson Jr. was still at the crime scene. Jackson, who also is charged with murder in Mays' death, told authorities McDonald and 19-year-old Michael Dewayne Hardy Jr. had fired shots, she said.

When confronted by police, Hardy admitted firing shots and corroborated the allegation that McDonald also was a shooter, Ollivierre said.

Deal said McDonald knew one of the other people charged in the case from school.

"That is the extent of his knowledge of any of these people," she 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 14, 2016 at 5:20 PM with the headline "Bond granted for teen charged in Bibb warrant clerk's slaying ."