Highly unusual case keeps grinding along

Gwinnett prosecutor calls pretrial motions ‘a waste of time.’

As late afternoon bled into early evening, Dan Mayfield sat at the witness stand in Courtroom 3F of the Gwinnett County courthouse.

The prosecutor — Gwinnett’s chief assistant district attorney — was testifying Wednesday on one of many motions in the child abuse case of Therian and Recardo Wimbush. He took aim at the motions filed by the wife, calling them “piecemeal” and “meritless.”

He was asked if he’d ever been part of a case that involved so many pretrial motions.

“Only death penalty cases,” Mayfield said.

It was an unusual end to an unusual day in a highly unusual case.

Therian and Recardo Wimbush, the latter a former all-conference linebacker at Georgia Tech, have been in the Gwinnett jail since surrendering in June 2014. They’re accused of punishing their oldest son, 13 at the time of their arrest, by keeping him locked in a basement bedroom at their Buford area home for about 18 months.

Isolated from his nine siblings, he had but a mattress, painted-over window and a makeshift toilet, authorities have said.

Therian Wimbush took over as her own attorney within a few months of her arrest and her husband recently did the same.

Wednesday’s day-long court session was scheduled to address a few of the dozens of motions Therian Wimbush has filed.

The proceedings were often tense — and muddled.

Wimbush had to be reminded multiple times to stay on topic, and that, not being an attorney, she was not permitted to speak on her husband’s behalf.

At one point, Wimbush claimed the seven-count indictment against her and her husband was fraudulent.

Presenting no evidence to support such a claim, she argued that the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office fabricated and filed the document without actually consulting a grand jury.

Later, during discussion about a motion to recuse all Gwinnett County judges from her case, Wimbush asked Judge Deborah Fluker to raise her right hand and answer questions.

“Ma’am,” Fluker replied, “I’m not a witness here and I’m not under subpoena, so you’re not authorized to place me under oath.”

Wimbush later tried to call Mayfield to the stand while her motion to disqualify the entire Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office from her case was being heard.

That request, and the motion, were denied — but Mayfield did eventually testify.

Fellow prosecutor Rich Vandever put him on the stand to take on Wimbush’s repeated contentions that she’s been denied the right to a speedy trial.

The chief assistant district attorney minced no words, bashing what he called Wimbush’s “continuous stream of motions” and claiming it has “naturally prevented” the case from going to trial.

Under terse cross-examination by Wimbush, Mayfield deemed her actions “no more than a waste of time.”

The subsequent step in the case is unclear. More hearings appear likely.

AJC 2014 Recardo Wimbush was an all-conference linebacker at Georgia Tech who is now accused of keeping his teenage son locked in a basement bedroom for 18 months.

KENT D. JOHNSON / AJC Therian Wimbush leaves court during a break in a bond hearing in August 2014. Wimbush has claimed that a seven-count indictment against her husband, Recardo, and her was fraudulent. She has been acting as her own attorney in the child-abuse case.