The felony charges against a Screven County man charged with Child Molestation in 2022 have been dismissed.
George Ezra Potter, Jr., then 72 of Sylvania, was arrested on July 18, 2022 on one count of Child Molestation. Warrants filed by the Screven County Sheriff’s Office at the time alleged Potter committed indecent acts against a minor child on some date between January 1, 2022 and June 29, 2022. The alleged victim listed in court filings was a blood relative of Potter’s and the matter was the subject of a contested child custody proceeding between one of Potter’s children and a former spouse.
Potter spent a week in the Screven County Jail before he was released on a $50,000 bond. He was also barred from having contact with any child under the age of fourteen while out on bond.
In January 2023, Potter’s attorney, Matt Hube, filed a motion to have Superior Court Judge Michael Muldrew recused from the case due to his comments during the sentencing hearing. In that case, Muldrew asked the defendant if he agreed that he should be “taken out back and shot in the head.” Another seven months would pass before the judge would take action on the motion, but on July 24, 2023, Muldrew recused himself from the case, citing an effort to “avoid any appearance of prejudice or bias for or against anyone interested” in the case.
In the meantime, in April of 2023, the case was presented to a grand jury and a True Bill of indictment was returned on two counts of Child Molestation. Both events were alleged to have occurred during the same six month period in 2022 and both incidents alleged ‘fondling’ as the indecent act.
A year later, in a unique turn of events, the case was dead docketed in April 2024. The dead docketing of a case means the case is considered ‘inactive’ and will not be placed on the judge’s calendar again until it is reactivated. In other words, the case is put on hold.
According to court documents filed in the Screven County Clerk of Court’s office, the case needed further investigation. The motion for a dead docket was presented by former Assistant District Attorney Russell Jones and signed by Judge Ronnie Thompson.
“Case requires further investigation. The above-styled case is to remain on the Dead Docket for a period of six months. After three months, the above-styled case is to be reviewed. Following six months, the case will be either reactivated for trial or dismissed.” – April 4, 2024 Dead Docket Motion
Nearly five months after the dead docketing, the case was reactivated by Jones and in October 2024 was on the placed on the docket for a calendar call. But on December 5, 2024, two and a half years after the case began, the charges were formally Nolle Prossed and the case was closed.
