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June 6, 2006
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Bond reduced 7 months after man charged in shooting death
By Jimmie E. Gates
jgates@clarionledger.com
Seven months and counting after he was charged with murder, a Jackson man got his $250,000 bond reduced Monday.
Hinds County Judge Houston Patton reduced Damon Russell's bond to $125,000 after a bond hearing at which Russell's attorney said his client couldn't afford the high bond.
Russell, 25, is charged in the November slaying of McAllen Colbert, 20, who was found dead in the driveway of a home at 816 Berwood Drive. Colbert lived on nearby Witsell Street.
"Obviously, bond isn't supposed to be punitive," Russell's attorney, Robert S. Smith, said. "He has been in jail for approximately eight months. ... Several grand juries have passed without an indictment."
Hinds County Assistant District Attorney Renia Anderson argued against reducing Russell's bond. "It's a very serious crime," Anderson said.
Anderson said the main reason the case has yet to go to a grand jury is that the district attorney's office received the file from the Jackson Police Department last month.
In the past, it was typical for individuals in Hinds County to be in jail eight months or longer without an indictment.
But the county hired a court facilitator in August 2003 to ensure cases move through the judicial system in a timely manner.
The first court facilitator, Doug Jones, died last October. He was replaced in January by Kenneth Lewis.
District Attorney Faye Peterson said motions to reduce bail because cases had yet to go to a grand jury are no longer typical.
Colbert died of a single gunshot wound to the face, Hinds County Coroner Sharon Grisham-Stewart said.
Police have yet to suggest a motive for the shooting, which occurred in the usually quiet neighborhood in north Jackson.
The Clarion-Ledger was unable to reach any of Colbert's family on Monday.
Russell's father, Damon Davis of Jackson, testified that family members have tried several times unsuccessfully to raise the required 10 percent of the bond needed to get his son out of jail. "It just came to a (stand) still," Davis said of his son's case.
