Man who nearly killed homeless facility supervisor granted $250,000 bail

Cedric Courtes Smith

By Joe Johnson

A judge has granted bail to a man

who was arrested last summer for a near fatal machete attack on an employee of a homeless facility.

Under state law, Cedric Smith was entitled to have reasonable bail set because his case had not been indicted within the statutory 90-day timeframe after arrest.

Former District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez failed to seek an indictment by presenting the case to a grand jury.

On Feb. 21, and ruling on a motion by Smith’s public defender, Western Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Lisa Lott set bail at $250,000, an amount that ensures he will remain in pretrial detention.

Smith has a proven propensity for violence, as shown by the machete attack and his conviction for a 2017 assault in which he used a razor blade to cut the neck of a University of Georgia student in an unprovoked attack.

In the more recent case, Smith in June attacked 53-year-old Christopher Sullens at the Day Service Center for the homeless on North Avenue. The victim was a supervisor at the facility and Smith was upset that he had been kicked out for having violated policy by bringing alcohol onto the premises.

Authorities said that Smith had laid in wait for Sullens and attacked with a machete as the victim walked to his car after work.

Sullens was flown in critical condition to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, where he underwent several major surgeries to save his life. Doctors were unable to preserve one of his badly damaged eyes, and it was removed. After several weeks, Sullens was released to begin rehabilitative therapy.