The trial for the teenage boy accused in the deadly 2024 shooting at Apalachee High School will likely be moved to outside of Barrow County.
Colt Gray appeared in Barrow County Superior Court Thursday, May 28, for a status hearing in the ongoing case. During the hearing, the defense said it would continue with its motion to move the trial out of Barrow County in order to ensure an unbiased jury pool. Prosecutors did not object to the motion.
A similar motion had also been filed in the February trial for Colt’s father, Colin Gray. In that case, the trial had remained in the Barrow County Courthouse, but a jury was pooled from Hall County.
Barrow County Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm said during the hearing that it had been difficult to find a venue that was both large enough to accommodate the trial and far enough from the Metro Atlanta area.
“The leading candidate right now is Columbia County, which is part of the Augusta area,” Primm said. “Their media is pulled from Augusta, as opposed to Atlanta, the chief judge there said they’re more than likely willing to accommodate and to accept us having a trial in their courthouse.”
The Columbia County Courthouse, which is located in Appling just west of Augusta, is under renovation, but Primm said it should be ready by mid-October when the trial would likely begin. The trial is estimated to take roughly two and a half weeks.
Primm also set a deadline for Gray to enter a plea for the last week of July. If Gray were to enter a plea, some victims would also be invited to give a victim’s impact statement. He said the deadline is to prevent a plea from occurring after the alternative venue has already committed its resources to the trial.
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