On a summer day in Atlanta, the life of Michael Magee, a 62-year-old Black man known to friends and family as “Man,” was brought to a violent end. A native of Tylertown, Mississippi, Mr. Magee had spent over 35 years in New Orleans, Louisiana, before relocating to Atlanta. He was a business owner, running his own tow truck and construction companies. Those who knew him remembered a man deeply connected to his roots and family.
Born on May 22, 1955, to Ernestine Webb and the late Matthew Magee, he was part of a large family with many siblings. He was a father to Nicole Rios, Michael Rios, Schwan Rios, Shelley Mcloud, Tina Henry, and Lauren Harris, and a doting grandfather to eleven grandchildren. His own wife, Catherine Rios Magee, had passed away before him.
His obituary paints a picture of a man at the center of a large and loving family, with a host of aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins who cherished him.
The tragic event unfolded on Sunday, August 6, 2017. Police were called to a home in the 1300 block of Bernard Street NW in Atlanta, where they discovered Mr. Magee deceased on the front walk. He had sustained a fatal gunshot wound to his head. The initial response was intense, as officers believed a suspect might still be inside the residence, prompting the dispatch of hostage negotiators and a SWAT team. However, a search of the home found it to be empty.
The Atlanta Police Department launched a homicide investigation. For just over a month, detectives worked to identify a suspect in the killing. The investigation led them to 50-year-old Michelle Antoinette Hightower. On Tuesday, September 12, 2017, a breakthrough occurred. Agents and task force officers with the FBI’s Atlanta Metro Major Offender Task Force, working in close coordination with Atlanta Police Department’s Zone 1 officers, located Hightower. She was arrested without incident in the 400 block of Chappell Road in Atlanta.
Following her arrest, Hightower was charged with the murder of Michael Magee. The case then entered the court system, but its path to resolution would be long and complicated. In March 2020, Hightower's murder trial began in the Superior Court of Fulton County. For four days, the proceedings went on, with the prosecution presenting testimony from five witnesses. However, the trial came to an abrupt halt on March 13, 2020.
The burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic led the Chief Judge of the Atlanta Judicial Circuit to issue an order declaring a judicial emergency, which suspended jury trials for 30 days. Compounding the situation, a juror reported having a sore throat and a witness for the state began showing flu-like symptoms. Over the objections of the defense, the court declared a mistrial, citing the public health crisis and the judicial order. Hightower’s defense later filed a motion to dismiss the indictment, arguing that a retrial would constitute double jeopardy. The motion was denied, and the case was appealed to the Supreme Court of Georgia.
On January 18, 2023, the state's highest court issued its ruling. The justices affirmed the lower court's decision, finding that the trial court acted within its discretion when it declared the mistrial due to the "manifest necessity" of the unprecedented public health emergency. The Supreme Court's decision cleared the way for the Fulton County District Attorney's Office to retry Michelle Hightower on the charges related to Michael Magee's death. As of that ruling, the case against her was set to move forward once again toward a trial.
