DEL.ICIO.USSmyrna man jailed 2 years before acquittal
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Each night when the cell door closed, Mattrail Hooks felt the loneliest.
Wrongfully accused of a 2005 murder, Hooks sat in the Cobb County jail for two years awaiting his trial, his thoughts on his 2-year-old son and other family members.
JOHNNY CRAWFORD/jcrawford@ajc.com
Mattrail Hooks was acquitted of the 2005 killing of a 60-year-old man. Hooks sat in the Cobb County jail for 2 years because he could not afford the $250,000 bail.
A Cobb County jury gave the 24-year-old Smyrna man his freedom back last week when they found he and co-defendant Travis Moore not guilty of murder. Moore was convicted of pimping and pandering charges and remains in jail.
“The hardest part was sitting in jail knowing you didn’t do anything,” Hooks said. “I was thinking about my son and how early I left him. I would just think about my family and how much I missed them.”
Hooks’ family could not afford his $250,000 bail; so he waited — passing on a plea deal.
Hooks was charged with robbing and murdering Don Holder on Dec. 9, 2005. Holder was shot in the head and chest outside an apartment on Bentley Road in Marietta.
There was little physical evidence and most of the witnesses in the case had criminal backgrounds, including a convicted prostitute.
Witnesses said they saw three men running from the scene of the crime. In his interviews with police, Moore pointed a finger at Hooks.
Hooks said he was in College Park at the time of the murder and had never met Holder.
Hooks described Moore as “an associate” he’d only known for a few months before his August 2006 arrest.
“I know now that you got to chose your friends wisely,” said Hooks, who has no criminal record.
That is a point he will drive home to his young son.
“I have a big testimony for him,” Hooks said. “You’ve got to think before you do anything. This world is not a good place. You’ve got to be careful with the people you hang around.”
Cobb assistant district attorney Jesse Evans said he was disappointed in the verdict, but believes the state presented a good case.
“If we didn’t think they were guilty, we wouldn’t have went to trial,” Evans said. He acknowledged that some of the witnesses had credibility problems.
Waiting two years for a murder case to come to trial isn’t unusual, Evans said. Attorneys must gather witness statements, process evidence and present various motions.
While in jail, Hooks spent his days sleeping and cutting hair to avoid getting into trouble. He learned to cut hair to earn extra money after dropping out of Kennesaw Mountain High School following his junior year. He took on several odd jobs before his arrest in August 2006.
Now that he is free, Hooks plans to work on his GED. He also wants to speak to youth groups about his ordeal.
“I know I wasn’t there,” he said. “The Lord knows I wasn’t there. It is scary thinking I could have spent the rest of my life in jail for something I didn’t do.”
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