Former Hawks player Mookie Blaylock bonded out of the Clayton County jail and was transported to the Spalding County jail, where he was being held Thursday afternoon on a probation violation related to an arrest about five years ago.
Blaylock, 46, posted $250,000 bond late Wednesday for a vehicular homicide charge stemming from a crash two weeks ago, Don Samuel, Blaylock’s attorney, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Blaylock had been in the Clayton jail since Monday, when he surrendered after spending more than a week at Atlanta Medical Center.
Blaylock allegedly had a medical emergency that caused him to black out and cross the center line of Tara Boulevard on May 31, Samuel has said. Blaylock is accused of striking a van head-on, killing 43-year-old Monica Murphy. Murphy, a mother of five, died following emergency surgery.
There is no evidence that Blaylock was under the influence at the time of the wreck. But his extensive arrest history on DUI charges can’t be overlooked, Clayton County Judge Daphne Walker said Tuesday during Blaylock’s court appearance.
Clayton County prosecutors contend Blaylock has been arrested seven times since 1996 on DUI charges, but some of those charges were later downgraded.
Blaylock also had three DUI arrests in Pike County, where records show the charges were downgraded in two cases, Channel 2 Action News reported. But Pike County District Attorney Scott Ballard told Channel 2 by phone that the courts reduced the charges without his knowledge.
“I didn’t appreciate the way DUIs were handled,” Ballard said. “We don’t reduce DUIs unless there’s good cause to do it, unless there’s a weakness in the case.”
At the time of the wreck in Clayton on May 31, Blaylock was driving on a suspended license and had an outstanding warrant in Spalding County after missing a court appearance, police and Samuel have said. Blaylock’s court date in Spalding County for a March arrest on DUI and hit-and-run charges has been rescheduled, Samuel said.
But Blaylock was being held Thursday on a probation violation stemming from a sentence nearly five years ago, Samuel said. It was not known Thursday afternoon when Blaylock could be granted bond in Spalding County.
Murphy’s husband, Frankie Murphy, told Channel 2 he doesn’t think Blaylock should have been granted bond at all.
“I would like to see justice and that means him never being able to drive again,” Frankie Murphy said.
