11-04-2025
What victim's family has to say after officers in Macon jail death not charged
Lawyers for the family of Stephen Fossett, a man who died in the Bibb County Jail, say key pieces of information weren't included in prosecutors' review of the fatal incident before the district attorney decided not to pursue charges against the officers involved.
Even though Fossett's death in May 2024 was caused by taser use and other factors after a struggle with jail officers, civil rights attorneys Mawuli Davis and Nathan Fitzpatrick argued that systemic issues surrounding the jail also contributed to his death.
Mawuli Davis and Fitzpatrick, as well as Fossett's family, spoke to the media at the Tubman African American Museum in downtown Macon Thursday morning, discussing the evidence that Bibb County District Attorney Anita Howard reviewed, the alleged civil liabilities they think the Bibb County Sheriff's Office may face, and the potential for a lawsuit once the attorneys receive crucial evidence from the sheriff's office.
The announcement from the district attorney's office that charges would not be pursued 'made our family more determined to get to the truth,' said Paula Platt, Fossett's mother.
'It has not wavered our faith, not even a little bit,' Platt said. 'We just want to get justice for Stephen, as anybody else who wants to get justice for their loved one.'
Mawuli Davis said Howard's review of the evidence from the sheriff's office did not lay out important facts about the investigation, including how Sheriff David Davis didn't alert the district attorney to Fossett's in-custody death.
'The district attorney's office requested the (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) come in (and investigate),' Mawuli Davis said. 'And the GBI made clear, 'it's too late ... we don't want part of your mess. It's too late to call us in because the whole situation has been tainted by your involvement.' That's the truth of the matter.'
The family's lawyers said that while the district attorney was conducting a review of the case, she was given evidence by the sheriff's office, including body camera footage, interviews with witnesses and the deputies who used their taser. But she never got the chance to interview them herself nor anyone in the district attorney's office.
'They talked about the taser ... did not exceed the 15 seconds that the training allots,' Mawuli Davis said. 'That doesn't mean that it didn't contribute to his death. It just meant their protocol says that you can tase someone up to 15 seconds continually and that you should not exceed that amount of tasing.'
They called the investigation 'very faulty.'
'If you start out with a foundation that is not solid, you'll ultimately end up with something that is built on sand,' Mawuli Davis said.
'She was just given trash,' Mawuli Davis said, regarding the evidence Howard received for the review.
Howard's report on the case indicated Fossett used synthetic marijuana, also known as K2 or MDMB-4en-PINACA, that contributed to his death. But the attorneys criticized how common the use of the drug is in the jail and questioned how Fossett got access to it in a controlled environment.
'It is almost as if the synthetic marijuana is like having a cigarette inside of the jail,' Mawuli Davis said. 'How would he get access to this ... and why is that not a concern? What have you heard from the sheriff about their commitment to ensuring the safety of their inmates?
'Isn't a part of ensuring the safety of an inmate who has a mental condition ... that they don't have access to anything that could hurt or harm them?' Mawuli Davis said.
The attorneys said they and Fossett's family have watched video from the incident, and it wasn't accurate to say that officers were providing medical help after the struggle between Fossett and deputies.
'(Staff) was milling around, talking amongst themselves, and it was after a period of time had passed that they realized ... he's not breathing. And so that was when they went into action,' Mawuli Davis said.
The family and their attorneys said they don't think Fossett should have been in the jail, as his trespassing charges and his demeanor should have given officers indicators he was schizophrenic, and thus should have been treated as a person with a mental illness having a mental health crisis.
'Is there any indication that he was, in fact, at least considered to be outsourced and sent to a mental health facility?' Mawuli Davis said. 'No. That's the issue ... he should have never been there.'
Bibb County Sheriff David Davis told The Telegraph his office wanted to send condolences to Fossett's family.
'My sincere condolences and those of the members of the Bibb County Sheriff's Office goes out to Mr. Fossett's Family,' Davis said. 'In regards to the findings of the District Attorney, Mr. Fossett's death was investigated in great detail by the Bibb County Sheriff's Office with guidance and review by the Georgia Bureau of Investigations. There was also detailed technical information provided by the taser manufacturer.'
In response to issues raised by Fossett's family, District Attorney Anita Howard released a statement Thursday saying 'I fully understand and empathize' with concerns raised by the family about the sheriff's office conducting its own investigation. She hopes all use of force deaths in Bibb County will be investigated by GBI in the future.
'Having an independent state agency conduct these sensitive investigations represents best practices in law enforcement and is already standard procedure in many Georgia jurisdictions,' Howard said in a statement. 'The involvement of an independent investigative body like the GBI helps ensure these critical cases are handled with transparency, thoroughness, and impartiality, while also expediting the investigative process.'
Howard said the sheriff's office can request that the GBI get involved, but confirmed that in this case, Howard's office had to ask GBI to step in after finding out about Fossett's death through media reports.
The family's attorneys say the'll investigate civil liability that the Bibb County Sheriff's Office could be held responsible for. They're requesting public records.
'This isn't about money,' Fitzpatrick said. 'This is about change and making sure that there's no other family in Macon-Bibb County that has to deal with this.'
