HINDS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE ROBERT SHULER SMITH, D.A. PRESS RELEASE August 2, 2018 For Immediate Release Judge Continues to Arbitrarily Release Murder Suspects without Notice to Prosecutors and/ or Victims’ Family The Hinds County District Attorney's Office is doing all that it can do. Motions have been filed with the Mississippi State Supreme Court asking that Senior Circuit Judge Tomie T. Green not be allowed to release Murcer suspects and other violent offenders into the community without a prosecutor first being allowed to be heard! on the record regarding eligibility for bond. Earlier this year, the D.A’'s Office filed a series of motions, challenging the wrongful release of Nicholas Coats, the defendant indicted for the murder of 23 year old Chelsie Kirschten. On August 17, 2017, while stopped at the traffic light at the intersection of State Street and Fortification Street, Ms. Kirschten was shot and killed. Subsequently, Coals was released on his own recognizance without any notice being given to the prosecutors as required by the Mississippi Rules of Criminal Procedure and by the Order established by Senior Circuit Court Judge Tomie T. Green. In response to the release of Coats, the D.A’s office filed a motion to revoke Coats’ bond due to the Court’s failure to give the required notification to the prosecution. The State argued that it was denied the required opportunity to be heard on the record prior to Coats’s release. Coats clearly posed a serious danger to the community. The Mississippi Rules of Criminal Procedure 8.5(b) mandates, ....The Court may for good cause shown, on its own initiative or on application of either party, modify the conditions of release, after first giving the parties an adequate opportunity to respond to the proposed modification. As recent as yesterday, the D.A.’s Office was forced to once again file a Motion to Revoke Bond for a Capital Murder suspect, who was given a $25,000 bond by Senior Circuit Court Judge Tomie Green‘The suspect, Crystal Marshall A/K/A Crystal Hawkins A/K/A Tussy MacMade, was arrested and charged with Capital Murder and Conspiracy to Commit Armed Robbery, after Joseph Baker, was found on February 11, 2018 in the driver's seat of his Ford F-150 witha gunshot wound to the back of his head. On July 31, 2018, without any notice to the proseaxtion or to the victim’s family, Judge Green issued an Order reducing the Capital Murder suspect’s bond to a mere $25,000, citing non-indictment as the sole reason. On August 1, 2018, the D.A.’s Office was notified via the Mississippi Electronic Filing System that the Court had issue said bond, with no prior notice to the prosecution as is mandated by Rule 8.5(b) of the Mississippi Rules of Criminal Procedure. Upon receipt of the D.A.’s attached Motion to Revoke Bond, Circuit Court Judge Jeff Weill promptly issued an Order Revoking Bond, citing the issuance of an invalid order by Senior Circuit Court Judge Tomie Green.