By Alba Rosa
The Macon Telegraph
MACON, Ga. — A man who was being held at the Bibb County Jail has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter of a deputy and will serve 13 years in prison, a news release from the Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office said Monday.
Albert Booze pleaded guilty to one count of voluntary manslaughter and one count of aggravated battery, stemming from him using Deputy Christopher Knight’s taser and knife against the deputy and killing him with it on April 6, 2021. As a result of his guilty plea, he will serve 13 years in prison and 12 years of probation.
Prosecutors said in their news release that a statement made by the victim’s mother revealed “deeply concerning practices at the Bibb County Jail that contributed to this tragedy.”
Prosecutors say that Booze splashed toilet water on a jail staff member on the day of Knight’s death, and he was subsequently “held naked and on display in his cell for several hours.”
Knight’s mother was not named in the news release, but said that Knight had described to her an unsupervised room where unruly inmates would be subjected to physical punishment, according to prosecutors. The room was called the “lieutenant’s office.”
Booze was taken to that room, prosecutors said, but he believed he was being taken for medical examination. He was “compliant during the transport to the isolated area” and was then part of an altercation with Knight, prosecutors said.
The altercation between Booze and Knight started after Knight struck Booze multiple times in the face. During the struggle, Booze was able to access Knight’s taser and an “unauthorized knife used in the deputy’s possession” to kill the deputy, prosecutors said.
“While Mr. Booze had a legal right to defend himself from this unlawful assault,” prosecutors said in the news release, “his response with weapons exceeded what the law permits for self-defense.”
The district attorney’s office also indicated that mental health issues were a factor in the case, but “they do not excuse the defendant’s criminal conduct,” the news release said. Mental health resources, proper detention protocols ‘essential’
The jail is managed by the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office, but the district attorney’s office said in a news release it cannot “ignore the connection between poor detention conditions and tragic outcomes like this case.”
“I have had numerous conversations with Sheriff (David) Davis about my concerns regarding the operations of the Bibb County Jail , and I am encouraged by the Sheriff’s openness to make meaningful improvements,” District Attorney Anita Howard said. “Every person, whether employee or inmate, has constitutional rights that must be respected and protected.”
The district attorney’s office also said “mental health resources and employees following proper detention protocols are essential to preventing future tragedies.”
“We support ongoing reform efforts while ensuring that accountability and public safety remain our top priorities,” the district attorney’s office said.
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