THOMASVILLE — The hearing of an August officer-involved shooting could move to the next session of grand jury proceedings. 

At the Thomas County Judicial Center on Monday, a grand jury began hearing the case of Thomas County drug agent Josh Smith’s fatal shooting of Herbert Gilbert. 

Brad Shealy, Southern Judicial Circuit district attorney, said Tuesday he is looking to file a motion to continue the return of the general presentment for the case. 

Sixteen of the 23 total grand jury members began hearing the case Monday, Shealy said. 

One juror was determined to have a Cairo address and was not a Thomas County resident, reducing the number of jurors to 15. 

The juror’s residence was confirmed, following the first day of hearing the case, when the juror said he was not paid for jury duty. His residence was then determined by the clerk of court’s office. 

“Anything less than 16 (jurors), we cannot meet,” Shealy said. 

Shealy said the grand jury was “not a properly constituted panel.”

Once a motion is filed, Shealy said the hearing of the case could go before a new grand jury and “have to start back from scratch.” 

A new grand jury will be empaneled in April, and the case could be heard in April or May, according to the district attorney. 

Along with the officer-involved shooting case, the grand jury heard close to 50 other cases. 

Shealy said cases can still plea or be re-presented in April. 

Selected in October, jurors began hearing the case as a civil grand jury in a closed proceeding. 

The Thomasville Times-Enterprise’s news partners at WALB-TV contributed to this report. 

Reporter Jordan Barela can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1826.