Despite protests from his attorneys, Phillips was held in the Chatham County Detention Center until a bond hearing could be scheduled for Tuesday, April 20, six days after the arrest. The judge pointed out that Phillips had already fled from the police once, and had attempted to alter the evidence. Bond was denied. On May 10, a scheduled preliminary hearing, which would confirm to the court that probable cause existed for the arrest, was postponed at the last minute by Chief Assistant District Attorney David Lock. The murder charges were brought in accordance with the word of the law, which states that the prosecution need only prove that a felony was committed, and that during the commission of that felony, a person died.
Aggravated assault is a felony.
The Grand Jury deliberated, and then, in a disappointing and puzzling reversal, rejected the murder charges in favor of one count of vehicular homicide. They then contradicted their first decision, and issued an indictment for two counts of aggravated assault, plus ten other misdemeanor charges. More than one contributor demanded to know why the police did not throw up a road block at the next bridge, tacitly admitting total ignorance of the concept of justifiable lethal force. Other readers strongly supported the police. Finally, inevitably, the race card was played.