Attorneys for Colin Gray, the Georgia school shooting suspect’s father, have hinted that there could be “impediments” that push his trial to next year, but declined to offer any other details.
The case is currently scheduled to go to trial in September and is expected to last three weeks.
Defense attorney Jimmy Berry alluded to the possible trial delay in passing at a hearing on Tuesday after Barrow County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm denied their change of venue request for a second time.
“If there’s anything y’all see on the horizon, either side, that’s going to be an impediment to trying this as we have it scheduled, let me know as soon as possible, because if we do need to make changes, I want to know about those as soon as possible,” Primm said.
“We put a lot on hold here for the three-week trial that if we’re not going to get to, then we can adjust the court schedule here so that other cases can be tried.”
Last month, Primm ruled that for logistical reasons, jurors would be drawn from neighboring Hall County rather than relocating the entire trial to South Georgia, as the defense had requested.
Primm said he realizes it “may ultimately prove to be a bad decision,” but if they move forward and find they can’t get an unbiased jury from Hall, then he’s open to looking at other options for 2026.
“I really was and am reluctant to put jurors in a hotel for three weeks,” Primm said. “So that means I need to be able to get jurors here and back in a reasonable amount of time. If I put them in a hotel, I don’t think that we’ve eliminated the problems that we have with sequestering a jury unless I take their cellphone away, and I can’t imagine in this day and age taking cellphones from jurors for three weeks.”
Gray attended the hearing with his hair slicked to the side and wearing striped orange and white jail garb. He faces 29 charges, including second-degree murder and second-degree cruelty to children, after authorities say he allowed his son access to the weapon used in the shooting.
During the hearing, Gray’s attorneys also challenged his indictment, claiming it was too vague.
“We don’t know whether it’s the defendant’s action or inaction that the defendant did in the indictment,” Berry said.
However, the prosecution stated that the indictment is sufficient.
“The indictment adequately alleges a crime, and it is up to the jury to decide whether or not the state can prove that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Chief Assistant District Attorney Patricia Brooks.
“There aren’t many cases, obviously, with this specific set of facts in Georgia, but the appellate courts have found sufficient evidence for criminal negligence in circumstances analogous to this case — other cases where children were allowed access to dangerous instruments or hazards.”
Brooks cited a 1988 case in Georgia where a man was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the commission of reckless conduct for failing to secure his three pit bull terriers that killed a child. In another more recent case, Brooks said a mother was similarly convicted for leaving her children unattended for an extended period in a room where they were sleeping on a mattress on the floor next to a space heater, which later caught fire and killed them.
But, the defense pushed back, saying two issues with that argument are that there are no safe storage requirements to keep guns out of the hands of minors in Georgia and that those cases don’t include a third party that carried out the alleged crimes.
“And even if you lock your guns away, there’s access,” Berry said.
“Somebody could break into a gun case and get the guns out, so what do you mean by access? Is it just that everybody’s going to have to get rid of their guns if they have kids under a certain age? We don’t know. It’s not specific in the indictment.”
Earlier this year, the Georgia Legislature advanced several school safety measures, but stopped short of addressing firearm access, despite calls from families of students who survived the deadly shooting at Apalachee High School to do more.
Gray’s son, Colt, is accused of shooting and killing four people and injuring several others at Apalachee last September. The now 15-year-old faces 55 counts, including murder, felony murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault and cruelty to children in the first degree.
The teen has new evidentiary hearings scheduled for June 27 and July 15.
