Wallace David Lee, who is accused of the Nov. 19 murders of 33-year-old Meghan Bowen and 39-year old James Harden, appeared at a committal hearing in Coffee County Magistrate Court Wednesday.
According to the district attorney’s office, committal hearings, also sometimes called preliminary hearings, are held to determine whether or not probable cause exists to bind the case over to a grand jury. In cases in which a defendant has bonded out or has already been indicted by a grand jury, defendants are not entitled to such hearings.
Lee has been incarcerated at the Coffee County Jail since Nov. 19 without a bond.
After hearing the testimony of GBI Agent Ben Collins, the magistrate judge determined that probable cause existed on all warrants to bind Lee over to the grand jury.
Presenting the case to the Coffee County Grand Jury is the next step in Lee’s case.