PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. — The Paulding County jail is trying to get justice for a woman police say was killed by her husband in front of their two kids in May.
Channel 2 Action News first told you back in June that Cynthia "Cynde" Bates, 28, died May 6, a day after telling her husband, Jonathan Bates, that she wanted a divorce.
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According to a police report, Bates told officers he pushed his wife while his two children were in the room, and her head struck a couch. He said she later began having trouble breathing, and she died the next day at a hospital.
An autopsy showed Cynthia Bates died of blunt-force trauma to the back of her head.
Jonathan Bates was charged with murder, battery and two counts of cruelty to children. It wasn't clear who his attorney was.
Paulding County Chief Judge Tony Beavers threw out the murder charge because he said he found probable cause only for the battery charge, a decision that upset Cynthia Bates' family. He left a misdemeanor battery charge.
This past Wednesday, a grand jury indicted Jonathan Bates but the same judge has yet to sign the arrest warrant for him. The man can not be arrested until the warrant is signed.
"It's not fair," said Bates' sister, Sandy Mitchell. "For him to walk around for the last 5 months, he gets to live life while he took hers."
Dallas police tell Channel 2's Matt Johnson they were prepared to arrest Bates on Wednesday. Prosecutors hope to have bates in custody at some point this week but a date has not been provided.
But every day Bates is not in jail, the family says there is no reason an accused killer should be able to taste freedom.
"He should be arrested the same day he was indicted and he should be sitting in jail thinking about what he done," said Cynthia Bates' sister, Stormie Dement.
Cox Media Group
